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What are the Handbrake settings to import to iBooks Author?

Hi. I have a really neat DVD a friend of mine made for me. I can copy the .VOB's to my drive, but then I'm fade with the problem of which settings to use in Handbrake to get a file which 1) iMovie can use 2) iBooks Author can use.


Does anyone have any pointers? This would greatly assist me in putting together a book.

MBP2.66, Mac OS X (10.6)

Posted on Jan 22, 2012 6:13 PM

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53 replies

Jul 27, 2012 10:08 AM in response to Rycankun

Hi Ryncakun, I've finally found the solution!


Strange but true, is a problem of path! I mean: assume you have internally working Html wdgt with video into in a highly branched folder of your Mac but when you put it in a iBook of yours it doesn't work. You have to:


1) Extract the contents of the .wdgt file in a very simple branched folder of OS X like "User" or "Download"


2) Rebuild the .wdgt from this folder


3) Create a brand new iBook always from the same folder. The book has to have a simple title like "Try"


4) Put the .wdgt in the new iBook, make a preview on iPad and - voilĂ  - it magically and strangely works!

Sep 20, 2012 9:55 PM in response to Aminta

The solution seems simple. The important thing is that the widget file IBA are in the same folder.

Ultimately this is the method.

Convert with Handbrake and then with Subler (with the right profile).

Save the file to your desktop.

Open a new book and then save to your desktop.

Add this widget to book.

Launch the preview and everything works perfectly.


Thanks to all those who contributed to the solution of the problem.


La soluzione sembra molto semplice. La cosa importante è che sia il widget che il file di IBA siano nella stessa cartella.

In definitiva questo è il metodo.

Converto con Handbrake e poi con Subler (con il giusto profilo).

Salvo il file sul desktop.

Apri un nuovo libro e poi si salva sul desktop.

Aggiungi il widget al libro.

Lancia l'anteprima e tutto funziona a meraviglia.


Grazie a tutti coloro che hanno contribuito alla soluzione del problema.

Nov 8, 2012 4:57 PM in response to esaruoho

The latest version of IBA (2.0) has addressed one part of this problem and created another. There is now an "optimizer" that attempts to handle almost anyhing you throw at it. Handbrake output will now be "handled" rather than simply rejected. Unfortunately, that handling is a one-size-fits-all approach that goes badly wrong in some cases. IBA 1.x used to reject Handbrake (and other X.264-based app) output suggesting that you re-encode using QuickTime Player. The new regime simply sends your video to QuickTime for you even though you didn't even ask it to. Problem is that this will always strip off anything other than the primary audio track and the video track. You may no longer have alternate audio tracks or soft subtitle tracks. Just forget about accessibility, right? You never could have chapter tracks in IBA but that's another story. What irks most people is that your video will not get smaller, it will not even remain the same size. It will get substantially larger. Bloat.


Lest you think that this is some kind of beneficent intervention, let me hasten to point out that Handbrake output plays perfectly fine on the iPad in the Videos.app. The Videos.app even allows one to select from multiple soft subtitle tracks and multiple alternate audio tracks where those are available. Therefore, this disability in iBooks Author is unnecessary and contrary to Apple's own sterling reputation in the area of accessibility.

May 20, 2013 8:17 AM in response to Frank Lowney

Let me add that there was a 'stealth' fix for this buried in the last iWork update. Soft subtitle and alternate audio tracks are no longer stripped away in IBA 2.x. Moreover, the bloat that I wrote about has been mitigated substantially. This is very noticible in the shorter amount of time the optimizer spends on video created in Handbrake or other X.264 based apps such as the excellent ScreenFlow for screencasting.

May 20, 2013 8:23 AM in response to Frank Lowney

this is definitely the case. Sure, it took about an hour to get the .M4V in and converted, but I'm now able to view it on the iPad. Sadly, I'm unable to Copy the media widget and paste it to the "Intro Media" portion (not going to want to do the conversion a second time), but this is good enough.. (and you can't add Media Widgets into the Glossary, which is .. well, it's okay, I'll survive 🙂

Mar 3, 2014 9:04 AM in response to esaruoho

Not sure if anyone can use Windows to transcode, or is running Parallels, but there is a great encoder called Simple that has every setting under the Sun, including a built-in setting for iPad. I am creating iBooks for a med school, and the videos have to be really small, as the book is already +200 pages. I also tried Handbrake with no success. My original movie I created in Adobe After Effects rendered out to be a 4GB .mov (720x480). I re-encoded this in After Effects to a .mp4, and brought it down to 1GB (720x480). I then brought this file into Super, and re-encoded this to the iPad setting, which is .mp4 (H.264/AVC, AACv2 Audio). The size is 640x480, audio is 44,100, 2 channel @ 36kbps. The movis is 51 min. long, and is only 293MB with no obvious loss of quality.

What are the Handbrake settings to import to iBooks Author?

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