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Are there different flavors of mp4
I had to supply footage to someone and they wanted a mp4. I imported a file into Compressor 3.0.5 & selected mp4. They came back and said they wanted an mp4 not a mov. Huh? It’s not a mov with a mp4 codec. The extension says .mp4 and I think it’s a true mp4 (whatever that means).
Looks like there different codecs for mp4, right? I goggled it and found lots of overly technical info, all too much for my little brain to grasp. When someone says they want a mp4, what should I ask them (to figure out what I need to make)? What are the limitations of compressor making mp4s?
Thanks!
-dMR -
8 Replies
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If the extension says .mp4 it’s definitely MPEG4, but it will show up in the Finder with the Quicktime icon. The person you are dealing with is evidently confused by the QT icon and evidently thinks that means they cannot open the file in another app.
You need to ask them what precisely they intend to use the file for, or what app they want to use it in. Then report back… More than likely you did right and you’re just dealing with ignorance on the part of the other person.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.
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Donato,
It’s possible they may be looking for the delivery movie to be H.264 with the MPEG-4 wrapper or file extension. In fact I’m guessing the reason is they need this format for Flash Player compatibility.
You’ll need to use Quicktime Pro (or Episode Pro) to handle this.
In QT pro:
File/Export … Export/Movie to MPEG-4.
Now click the Options button …
File Format: MP4
Video Format: H.264
Also, you can go into Video Options and select Main or Baseline profile.
Set frame rate and aspect ratio.
The encoded movie will be H.264 with the .mp4 file extension.
-paul.
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DRW,
Once again, thanks for your help. It was an urgent request so I sent it off to our encoding guys. They usually deal with this kind of thing.
-dMR -
Hey Paul,
Great info. I had this same issue with a web person last week and she was working with flash. I’ll store this for future use.
Thanks!
-dMR -
It is a common mistake that people mistake wrappers for codecs. Quicktime and AVI etc are wrappers that can contain a huge variety of codecs, frame sizes and rates.
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So is an mp4 just a wrapper? A wrapper of a QT file?
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[Donato M. Rondinelli] “So is an mp4 just a wrapper? A wrapper of a QT file?”
Other way around. Quicktime is a wrapper. mp4 is a codec
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