Renaming .mov to .mp4!

is it alright to rename a H264 .mov file created with compressor and rename the file extension to .mp4 to create windows playable video file?

my client needs mp4 files, but i am not satisfied with the quality of mp4 files created with Compressor.

i have created a H264 file with compressor and renamed it to mp4. will this work on a windows machine?

2 x 2.8 GHz Mac Pro Quad-Core Xeon, 10 GB RAM, Dual 23" Cinema Display, ReadyNAS, Mac OS X (10.6.3)

Posted on Nov 11, 2010 5:27 AM

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8 replies

Nov 11, 2010 6:24 AM in response to Robs HD

so using Mpeg Streamclip to save the H264-mov files to mp4 will not let those files be played back on a PC?


using "Save As" and "MP4" in MPEG Streamclip will work just fine ... it resaves the file in an MP4 container just as the process suggests

So the only way is to change the H264 "extension" in compressor to mp4? but isn't that the same as the above way?


it's not the only way (see above) ... but it works, and if you;re using Compressor to make the files then it would make sense just to save it like this in one step rather than go through the re-save process

Nov 11, 2010 6:14 AM in response to Robs HD

No, if you rename the mov to mp4 it will not play. However, if you use all the same settings in Compressor that got you that great H264 .mov file but change the "Extension" setting in Compresssor to "mp4" you'll get a file that looks exactly the same but is inside an mp4 container. That's how I always encode videos for web playback now. They work great in Flash video players. You should also set the "Streaming" option to "Fast Start" (not Fast Start - Compressed Header).

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Renaming .mov to .mp4!

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