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Trying to export an MPEG4 = Undesired Vidoe Resize
Hello everyone,
I will try to keep this concise, I have a WMV file that is 576 x 324 I’ve added a few basic effects in after effects cs5 and I’m trying to export the video to an MP4.
1) My first question is I see MPEG-4 on the list of options on the render que but not MP4 are these the same things?
2) While setting up the video output settings I’m getting a small “yield” sign in the bottom left corner telling me that if I wish to use the MPEG-4 format for video render compression that my PAR will be changed from 1.22 to 1.00, or in other words there video will be forced from 576 x 324 to 352 x 240.
Now with all that being said I would like point out that I am not married to the MPEG-4 video format as a style of compression. I’m simply looking for a method to export video for web streaming that looks well done and has REASONABLE file size. So its at this point of the post I would like to invite any and all feed back about a style of compression that others have used to for rendering video with audio for web streaming.
Thank you so much in advance for taking the time to read this post and offer your feedback and assistance!
Best
John
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3 Replies
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Hi, John. After my experience with After Effects (I am referencing CS4 and CS5.5 here) and creating video files for the web, I can offer the following:
1) Yes, MP4 is the same as MPEG-4.
2) The “yield” sign is just an FYI to let you know that something will be techinically, and perhaps, perceptually different in the final output file from the orginal (like PAR).
When my final file output is destined for the web, I make the dimensions of my After Effects comp safe for the web/computer screen display. You can do this simply with your encoding preset (like After Effects was telling you it was going to do), but I don’t know that you will want to let it do that for the following reason:
It looks to me that your source WMV is a wide screen video since your dimensions have a ratio of 1.77:1, or 16:9. If this is true, then allowing After Effects to “help” you by resizing it for you will ruin the aspect ratio by changing it to 1.47:1.
To avoid this, disregard what After Effects tells you about your WMV having a PAR of 1.22 (this is the PAR for widescreen NTSC Standard Definition, and I think the WMV format may be showing you the adjusted frame size dimensions instead of the actual pixel dimensions of your clip).
In AE, right-click your footage and select “Interpret Footage>Main”. In the “Main Options” tab and under the “Other Options” heading, change the “pixel aspect ratio” to “Square Pixels”. Now your footage will display in AE as it should appear on the web.
Drag your footage to the “new composition” icon at the bottom of your project panel, and your new comp will be set to 576×324 with square pixels (if it isn’t, change your comp’s frame size to 576×324 with square pixels and scale your footage to fill the frame). The “yield” icon will not appear when you output this video to a video file with the same dimensions.
As far as creating an MP4 (H.264) file, try modifying your “Output Module” settings to:
Video: “Profile: Baseline”; “Level:3.0”; “VBR, 1 Pass”; “Target Bitrate: 1 Mbps”; “Maximum Bitrate: 1.5 Mbps”.
Audio: “Codec: AAC”; “Audio Quality: High”; “Bitrate Settings: 96 kbps”; “Precedence: Bitrate”.
Multiplexer: “MP4”; “Stream Compatibility: Standard” (though you can set this to “iPod”, I have used “Standard” to produce files for iPad).
P.S. It is generally a good idead to output your final video files, whether to the web or desktop use, as close to the video clip’s original frame dimensions and pixel aspect ratio (or intended display dimensions) as possible to preserve the quality of the original as much as possible.
P.P.S. To get a look at what’s under the hood with various video files you may work with, I recommend downloading “MediaInfo” from https://www.download.com.
-Michael
*****
Avid Media Composer 6 (HP Z400 Workstation: Windows 7 64-bit; Intel Xeon 6 Core W3680 CPU; 6 GB RAM); Adobe CS5.5 Production Premium; DepthQ Stereoscopic; Digital Rapids StreamZHD v.3.7.2.25. -
Sorry, John, a correction about the MP4 format: MP4 can either be created using the H.264 codec (which I use) or the MainConcept MPEG4 Video codec. I believe the H.264 codec is considered a better way to create files.
In AE (CS5.5), select “H.264” from the Output Module and click its name to access the “Output Module Settings” dialogue box where you can change the necessary “format options” found under the “Video Output” heading. Doing this will apply the settings to this one output in your render queue and will not change the default H.264 settings.
-Michael
*****
Avid Media Composer 6 (HP Z400 Workstation: Windows 7 64-bit; Intel Xeon 6 Core W3680 CPU; 6 GB RAM); Adobe CS5.5 Production Premium; DepthQ Stereoscopic; Digital Rapids StreamZHD v.3.7.2.25. -
Hey John
U can export by selecting h264 as the codec, then go to format option set mp4 as the multiplexer.You won’t see any yellow signs. If you still seeing yellow sign , As a second option you can export it as .mov & convert the same with AME( Media Encoder) to an mpe4 by selecting H264 as codec, It will add mp4 shell extension automatically.
Thanks
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