Supported Media Formats

Overview

Many standard Media File types are supported Video Mill out-of-the-box and without installing a separate video codec. Some video software installs a codec during its installation process, so your system may already support other filetypes not listed here. The best practice is to try a Media File in Video Mill first. Then if it doesn't work, investigate installing a codec for it.

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Video Formats

Supported: Video Mill supports these formats: DivX MPEG-4, DivX H.264, Xvid MP4, MPEG-1, MPEG-2 DVD, SVCD, AVI MPEG-4, WMV (including 720pHD; 1080pHD High Definition), Flash (FLV), Quicktime M2V, M4V (H.264 for iPod), MOV, Apple 3GPP2( 3G2), 3GP, Sorenson MOV, VOB*, TS (Transport Stream), RealMedia** (RM, RA, RAM, etc.) and more.

Many formats are supported out-of-the-box. Some formats require installation of a codec (see below). Files can be virtually any size assuming your computer has enough RAM to support the Load. If the file will play in Windows Media Player (WMP version 11 or 12), it should be playable with Video Mill .

* - VOB files (Video OBject used on some DVD disks) do play with the K-Lite Codec, but you need to rename the file extension from VOB to MPG. Other codecs may eliminate this step.

**- RealMedia requires the Mega version of K-Lite Codec (or other codec that supports RealMedia ).

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Streaming Video

Supported: Web based streaming protocols: Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) , Advanced Stream Redirector Files (ASX), Microsoft Media Services (MMS) , Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP) are supported.

If you want to test an ASX file, copy and paste this Web link into the Web link dialog in the Descriptors panel: http://www.cpsc.gov/vnr/asfroot/cribsqa.asx . Web based files obviously take longer to Load so be patient.

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UTube and Other Web Videos

UTube and most of the Web video sites require a player plugin (ex. a Flash player) to play their videos. But you can save these videos to your computer hard disk with a brower plugin, then play the saved video file with Video Mill .

Freecorder is a simple browser toolbar plugin that will save UTube videos as MP4 files (and most other Flash player videos) so you can play them. There are many others as well.

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Video Codecs

Not all codecs are equal. Some have better performance characteristics for certian filetypes. Do some Codec research if you have special or high-end requirements.

Some video types are not supported by the standard Windows installed OS and require a Codec to be installed to play them. DivX is one example. We have tested the free K-Lite Codec Pack download which works fine and has an expansive list of supported file types including DivX. Here is a Comparison table showing the audio/video/file formats supported by the different variants of the K-Lite Codec Pack. Install the variant that supports the filetypes that you need. Or test your own favorite codec.

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Audio Formats

Supported: The typical audio formats are supported out-of-the-box: WAV, MP3, WMA, MIDI (MID), AU, AIFF (AIF). Other file types (like FLAC, OGG, AAC) may work by installing a separate codec. The K-Lite Codec Pack mentioned above supports some audio formats.

You can select an audio file as a Media Item file. You may want to do this if you want to accompany a video with special music. So you can Mute the Media File sound track and play the selected audio file instead.

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Image Formats

Supported: The common image file types are supported including GIF, JPG, PNG, and BMP.

You may want to load a still image into a Screen along side playing videos -- for example to display your company logo. If you have another type not listed, give it a try. It may work. Or convert to one of the supported types. flv

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