Converting Videos for the iPhone Using Compressor

For those who already have their hands into the self produced video revolution the use of technology can have a creative synergy. Many people are now finding professional video editing software less of a hurdle only for the elite studios, and Apple users have now begun to shell out the excessive dollars for the Final Cut Studio package. With this you can engage in a full filmmaking post-production, which then can help you put together a video for your daughter’s dance recital or a fully realized blockbuster movie event. The package itself gives you everything you need to see post-production all the way through, with Live Type to create colorful text boxes and DVD Studio Pro to author DVDs that would put most retailers to shame.

One of the most crucial elements of the Final Cut Studio workflow is Apple’s Compressor, which you can use to shrink and change format for videos. This can be done either when exporting your file from Final Cut Pro, or just a video of almost any type that must be compressed and converted. The software itself has a number of presets for different format, including DVD and the illustrious iPhone. This makes Compressor one of the easiest resources for iPhone video conversion, especially since many tech savvy homes already have the software in regular use. Converting video for iPhone use is especially easy with Compressor, and it only requires a quick step by step method.

Go ahead and open Compressor and go to File and Open. Now you can go to the video you are looking to convert and select it, opening it up in Compressor. The same process is true if you are exporting from Final Cut Pro. If this is the case you can just go to File and Export, then select Export Using Compressor. Both ways will bring up the video in the program where you then need to begin selecting your options. Compressor is composed of a few specific windows. The top long window is the project window where the specific video is listed. Directly below and on the left hand side are the options for compression. There are going to be several folders listed here, each with their own way of organizing and categorizing the options for video conversion that Compressor will give you. Go to the Settings Menu and then the Apple Devices icon. From here there will have a few choices, with two listed as iPod specific. They each have different final qualities, meaning that they have different file sizes. The larger one will have a better quality, while the other will be smaller. Make the choice as to which one you want and then click on it and drag it up to the project menu.

Once this is up there the window will list that it is going to export the selected video in the specified file type. For up to the task bar and select Target so that Compressor knows where to send your iPhone ready video. Once all of these have been set you can click Submit in the lower right hand corner of the project menu. Depending on the file size this can take several minutes or even a couple hours, but Compressor is relatively reliable for most situations. If you want to check on your progress you go to the History window which is directly below the project window to the right. Here you have tabs for today and days previous so you can look at the history of your Compressor jobs. Click on the Today option and you will be given a progress bar for the current job that is occurring. This is a way to keep up on what is happening while it is. The software is part of an expensive package, but for those who already have the resources this can be one of the best options for iPhone video conversion.

• Compressor – $$$ [web]

 

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