How can I put an mp4 video on IPad?

There is no drag and drop between the Windows filesystem and your iPad. You must use an app to transfer the file.

The iOS filesystem is heavily secured and protected.

iTunes is the best way to sync a video to your iPad. You can drag within iTunes to your iPad if that's what you mean. After that you may have to click on SYNC. It may not be an automatic transfer.

https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT201253

I have my iPad4 mini wired directly to my Windows 7 computer. My .mp4 video is in the Home Videos folder on iTunes on my PC. On my PC, I drag and drop into my iPad, but nothing happens. There is no Videos app or other player on my iPad (which I understand is standard and should show automatically??), and iTunes on my iPad doesn't show my personal library. No Home Videos folder on my iPad. I can listen to my music, but can't get my personal mp4 to show up on my iPad. None of the answers here work for me. (Also, I embedded the video in a Powerpoint presentation and can play it on my iPad Powerpoint app, but no sound.) What's up with this?

Import into iTunes, then sync it as you would any other video or music.

You may have to convert the format to one compatible with the iPad. In iTunes>Advanced there is an option for Creating iPad version. Try that first.

Next you will need a third-party program. I use HandBreak. It has presets for iPad format.

Pad2, the new iPad Supported Video Formats & Movie Formats

• H.264 video up to 1080p, 30 frames per second, High Profile level 4.1 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats;
• MPEG-4 video up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps per channel, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats;
• Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) up to 35 Mbps, 1280 by 720 pixels, 30 frames per second, audio in ulaw, PCM stereo audio in .avi file format

You can use a USB flash drive & the camera connection kit.

Plug the USB flash drive into your computer & create a new folder titled DCIM. Then put your movie/photo files into the folder. The files must have a filename with exactly 8 characters long (no spaces) plus the file extension (i.e., my-movie.mov; DSCN0164.jpg).

Now plug the flash drive into the iPad using the camera connection kit. Open the Photos app, the movie/photo files should appear & you can import. (You can not export using the camera connection kit.)

 Cheers, Tom 😉

Another way: you can e-mail it to yourself as an attachment. Then get an app like "GoodPlayer." Tap and hold on the attachment and an "Open in" menu appears. Select "GoodPlayer." I use AOL, and in order for this procedure to work for me, I have to access AOL's web site, open the mail there, and tap and hold on the attachment. It doesn't seem to work on the e-mail in the iPad.....for me. It may be different if you use G-mail or another service provider. Try it both ways.

Seriously! Why is this so hard?

I converted the .flv to mp4 (don't fully understand all the settings in VLC player)

Encapsulation: MP4/MOV

Video Codec: MPEG-4, 800 kb/s, 30 fps

Audio codec: 192 kb/s, 2 channels, Sample rate: 44100

Trying to drag and drop it onto iTunes - it won't go - the videos are greyed out.

I think there's some thing where if I link this PC to iPad it'll get angry with me as I can only sync my iPad to a number of devices, so don't want to sync - just put the file on there.

Do I have to put it onto an SD card and import it that way?

Emailing it seems stupid (whether it works is a different matter - a helpful post, but stupid you'd have to do that).

Why is this so hard?