Hi,
I have lots of iPhone mov files but they aren't compatible with my preferred photo storage system which is Google Photos.
How do I convert these MOV files to MP4 files without losing quality?
I have Final Cut Pro, but I'm not expert in it at all, and I'm not sure I want to create a "Project' for each file I need to convert.
Handbrake is another alternative I guess, but I've not tried this option.
iMac (M1, 2021)
In my setup Google Photos plays .mov (and .mp4, m4v, .mkv, .webm) with various codecs etc including H.264, HEVC hvc1 and hev1, HEVC HDR/HLG DolbyVision, VP8, VP9 etc (Mac mini 2018, Sonoma 14.4.1 Safari).
In Windows 10 Chrome (worse with Edge) via VMware Google Photos plays all those. Notice that it might take considerable time for Google Photos to ingest large 4K HEVC HLG DolbyVision movies but that did eventually play.
Some old devices might not play HEVC HDR/HLG DolbyVision (i.e. the colors are "washed out"). A workaround for that is to re-encode HDR/HLG to SDR with Handbrake, Shutter Encoder or ffmpeg (it seems it is not possible to get rid of HLG and DolbyVision losslessly):
With Handbrake > Filters > Colorspace: BT.709 (and other settings like H.265 (Video Toolbox) etc as desired).
With Shutter Encoder > Colorimetry > Convert colorspace: Rec. 2020 to Rec. 709.
With ffmpeg HDR/HLG to SDR and scale to 1920x1080 (and copy AAC audio):
ffmpeg -i input.mov -vf zscale=w=1920:h=1080,zscale=t=linear:npl=250,format=gbrpf32le,zscale=p=bt709,tonemap=tonemap=hable:desat=0,zscale=t=bt709:m=bt709:r=tv,format=yuv420p -c:v libx265 -crf 28 -preset medium -timecode 00:00:00:00 -tag:v hvc1 -c:a copy output.mp4
For too bright output increase npl "nominal peak luminance" from the default 100 to about 250 or more, for too dark reduce to about 50 or less. I have used npl=250 for iPhone 13 Pro HDR/HLG to SDR re-encode. Of course also Final Cut Pro can do that.
In my setup Google Photos plays .mov (and .mp4, m4v, .mkv, .webm) with various codecs etc including H.264, HEVC hvc1 and hev1, HEVC HDR/HLG DolbyVision, VP8, VP9 etc (Mac mini 2018, Sonoma 14.4.1 Safari).
In Windows 10 Chrome (worse with Edge) via VMware Google Photos plays all those. Notice that it might take considerable time for Google Photos to ingest large 4K HEVC HLG DolbyVision movies but that did eventually play.
Some old devices might not play HEVC HDR/HLG DolbyVision (i.e. the colors are "washed out"). A workaround for that is to re-encode HDR/HLG to SDR with Handbrake, Shutter Encoder or ffmpeg (it seems it is not possible to get rid of HLG and DolbyVision losslessly):
With Handbrake > Filters > Colorspace: BT.709 (and other settings like H.265 (Video Toolbox) etc as desired).
With Shutter Encoder > Colorimetry > Convert colorspace: Rec. 2020 to Rec. 709.
With ffmpeg HDR/HLG to SDR and scale to 1920x1080 (and copy AAC audio):
ffmpeg -i input.mov -vf zscale=w=1920:h=1080,zscale=t=linear:npl=250,format=gbrpf32le,zscale=p=bt709,tonemap=tonemap=hable:desat=0,zscale=t=bt709:m=bt709:r=tv,format=yuv420p -c:v libx265 -crf 28 -preset medium -timecode 00:00:00:00 -tag:v hvc1 -c:a copy output.mp4
For too bright output increase npl "nominal peak luminance" from the default 100 to about 250 or more, for too dark reduce to about 50 or less. I have used npl=250 for iPhone 13 Pro HDR/HLG to SDR re-encode. Of course also Final Cut Pro can do that.
Compressor or FCPX, batch export.
I think VLC also will do that conversion and everyone should have that app...IMHO.
How do I convert lots of iPhone Mov files to MP4?
