Converting an MOV file to something I can post

[WhitewaterWoman]

My foster daughter sent me a very short (a few seconds) movie? video? I don't know what you call it. My computer identifies it as a MOV file. She texted it to me. I have it on my computer now, but it is not posting.

It is a beautiful tree covered in purple lights with fireworks going off behind it .

Can anyone tell me how to convert this file into something that will post?
Thank you!

 

[tkcartoonist]

There are several different conversion sites around the web if you don't have the software to do so yourself. Here's one I used in the past:
Convertio

 

[maycontainthunder]

If you have a windows PC with the 'Photos' app this can be used to convert the file. When I did this it would only save the same file type. However, if you cut the video down by a second you can then save it as a different format.

One of the issues with posting videos is the bandwidth they take up. This site may not accept video files anymore. When I asked Satal a while back he advised to use an external host and use the 'post media' option.

 

[MildredHubble]

There's an app for pc and Mac called Handbrake. I use it to convert all kinds of video files. It has presets so if you know the target format it's usually only a few clicks away!

 

[WhitewaterWoman]

Thank you all. I'll try some of these options.

I don't intend to clog up this forum. I gather from your post that posting a link hosted somewhere else, say You Tube, takes less bandwidth than posting a video clip. I was not aware of that. I'm pretty ignorant regarding video.

 

[Slime_Punk]

The easiest way is to simply upload it to Youtube.

You can set your privacy settings however you wish, too. All the way down to 'only I can see it' (AKA private), or 'only those who I give the link to can see it' (aka unlisted). A lot of people forget that the easiest way to share videos is kind of attached to their Gmail account.

Also, the bandwidth is the same, it's just so much easier than messing around with a bunch of converters (these will usually degrade your audio and video quality anyway). I'd recommend those if you were creating a video for a specific format in an actual editor, but sharing videos on YT is definitely the way to go

 

[Outdated]

There's an app for pc and Mac called Handbrake.

I didn't know you can get Handbrake for Win and Mac now, I used it quite a lot when I was living in the bush, no TV or streaming services in remote areas. Handbrake was the best of all those types of programs that I could find.

 

[MildredHubble]

I didn't know you can get Handbrake for Win and Mac now, I used it quite a lot when I was living in the bush, no TV or streaming services in remote areas. Handbrake was the best of all those types of programs that I could find.

It's been on my computer's for many years now! It's a fantastic piece of software and totally free! Handbrake and VLC are just the best when it comes to making your videos do their thing!

 

[Judge]

I finally switched over to VLC in Linux as a primary DVD player. It facilitates DVD menus that SM Player can't do.

 

[MildredHubble]

I finally switched over to VLC in Linux as a primary DVD player. It facilitates DVD menus that SM Player can't do.

It's also super awesome for playing your dvd iso files off of a network drive! And it can skip those pesky forced commercials and even jump right to the movie without faffing about with the menu. It can be a little hit and miss with the latter but it's great as I've got an old android tablet hidden behind the TV so I've put all my dvds in storage and saved some space.

I'm a bit of a hoarder so this is important and this habit also explains why I have an old android tablet laying around in the first place!

 

[Judge]

It's also super awesome for playing your dvd iso files off of a network drive! And it can skip those pesky forced commercials and even jump right to the movie without faffing about with the menu. It can be a little hit and miss with the latter but it's great as I've got an old android tablet hidden behind the TV so I've put all my dvds in storage and saved some space.

I found with certain MGM titles (James Bond films in particular) that SM Player would leave me in a hell-loop of having to sit through all the commercials and then get to the main menu which didn't work. VLC cuts through all that crap.

Though VLC like most other players still stutters through a single scene of one movie I use as a test of sorts. The one thing I liked about SM Player. In Windows I use "Pot Player" for the same reason. Smoother playback of at least that one particular scene. Though Pot Player has no problem with DVD menus. But I continue to gravitate away from Windows altogether, so good DVD play in Linux counts!