Need to convert .f4v and .swf files to Mac friendly formats

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Level 8

41,164 points

Need to convert .f4v and .swf files to Mac friendly formats

I have a large number of .f4v files, mostly tutorials, that I want to convert to .mp4, .mov or m4v.

They open in QuickTime Player 10 with Perian but when I go to resave them they error:

The document "XXXX.f4v" could not be saved as "XXXX.mov". The movie contains an incorrect time value.

I've had a few cracks at this, so far unsuccessfully, with a range of tools including Adobe Flash. I'm not very familiar with Flash and despite hunting everywhere I could find no method of Importing/Exporting the files.

Has anyone out there got any experience with file conversions? I'd like to convert some .swf as well.

Peter

PS I could perhaps use Handbrake but that would mean re-encoding when I would just like to retain the .x264 encoding but change the container.

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.8), iMac 27" Early 2011

Posted on Nov 2, 2012 11:01 AM

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Answer 1

Limnos

Level 10

411,169 points

Nov 2, 2012 11:14 AM in response to PeterBreis0807

I have never encountered a .f4v file. Would MPEGstreamclip work?

Maybe FFmpegX?

Are these audio .swf or older multimedia? If audio that's tough. If older Multimedia then I have absolutely no idea. The only thing I have seen for audio is SoundConverter (payware).

In a few cases I have faked another player into playing .swf into playing by changing the extension to .mp3. Use a utility such as Media Info - http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net to tell you what codec is used and if this might work.

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Answer 2

PeterBreis0807 Author

Level 8

41,164 points

Nov 2, 2012 12:26 PM in response to Limnos

As the v in .f4v suggests it is the more modern video format of Flash and incorporates .h264 video and AAC/MP3 audio.

I am currently hunting down all Mac converters and some PC apps which seem to offer more choice.

So far have sourced Mac:

Adapter 1.4.3 [free]

Media Converter 1.2[free]

Miro Video Converter for Mac 2.6{free]

Smart Converter1.4.3 [free]

Tegan [free]

Vidsify for Mac US$2.99

Veescope Converter1.04 US$9.99

iFFmpeg for Mac US$16.00

Jaksta Video Converter for Mac1.4.2 US$19.95

.F4V to .MP4 - .F4V to .RA Mac OS X US$29

Bigasoft's Total Video Converter for Mac US$34.95

Almersoft's Video Converter for Mac US$35

Pavtube Video Converter for Mac US$35

PrismVideo Converter US$34.99

iFunia US$49

Wondershare Video Converter Ultimate US$65.95

Internet conversion

On demand scalable video encoding service | EncoderCloud

Windows Solutions

AVS-Video-Converter 8.2 US$59

Will take a while to assess these and let you know how it went.

Peter

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Answer 3

PeterBreis0807 Author

Level 8

41,164 points

Nov 2, 2012 12:56 PM in response to PeterBreis0807

Not done a comprehensive evaluation but so far have had success with KiwiFruit's Media Converter 1.2

I took the iPod / iPhone preset and edited in Preferences to:

Container: MP4 format

Extension: mp4

Size: unchecked

Checked:

Use Bars to Keep Correct Aspect Ratio

Automatically Set Aspect Ratio Based on the Input File

Automatically Set Size Based on the Input File

Which produces a file almost identical to the original expect it increases the file size to 190% from the original.

May play with the bitrate and see if that fixes it.

Peter

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Answer 4

PeterBreis0807 Author

Level 8

41,164 points

Nov 2, 2012 1:00 PM in response to PeterBreis0807

Bitrate didn't change a thing.

Well more homework to do.

Peter

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Answer 5

PeterBreis0807 Author

Level 8

41,164 points

Nov 2, 2012 2:28 PM in response to PeterBreis0807

Switched to Adapter and am able to make custom settings that basically allow codec flow through, plus batch and save to original location. It is very fast and the file sizes remain the same with no change in quality.

Think Adapter is a keeper! Gets 4 and half stars from me.

Nice interface and very quick, just a couple of quirks, which I've provided feedback to the developer, but they should be congratulated on a fine product given as an opensource gift to the Apple community.

That solves the .f4v conversion, must look for a .swf solution.

Peter

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Answer 6

Vilsion

Level 1

0 points

Nov 7, 2012 8:00 AM in response to PeterBreis0807

SWF Video Converter can convert movie files to a different format.

I know for a fact that it converts .swf movies. But I don't know about .f4v movies.

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Answer 7

May 13, 2013 10:14 PM in response to PeterBreis0807

I'm in the process of trying to convert a tutorial of all .f4v files into iTunes for playback on my iPad, which led to your post. I plan on trying adaptor but wondered if you have heard of using one of adobes apps to perform the same task? I have access to them on a Mac and thought it might be simple and quick. I've never used adobe forums and hope not to, if you haven't its no problem. Just thought you may have.

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Answer 8

Jun 3, 2013 12:57 AM in response to PeterBreis0807

Sorry, what exactly did you do that fixed your problem??

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Answer 9

Dec 22, 2013 7:03 PM in response to Dwaynecho

I know a powerfulF4V Converter which can fast and batch convert F4V to almost all popular video or audio format on Mac like convert F4V to MP4, MOV, DV, AVI, MKV, VOB, WMV and etc. Aside from converting F4V files, this ideal F4V Converter Mac even can convert FLV, SWF, F4F, F4M, GIF and etc.

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Answer 10

dsawes

Level 1

0 points

Dec 23, 2013 11:34 PM in response to PeterBreis0807

I recommend a very good F4V Converter.It is specially designed to convert F4V to various video formats like F4V to MP4, F4V to AVI, F4V to WMW, F4V to MOV, F4V to MPG and more. Besides converting F4V, this powerful F4V Converter even supports converting FLV/SWF to various video formats. It also can rip F4V to audio format like MP3, AAC, WMA and etc.

Moreover, this professional F4V Converter is equipped with advanced editing function. It enables to adjust audio volume, rotate video, add audio track and subtitle for video, increase artistic effects for video, add image or text watermark for video, split video, merge videos into one, trim and crop video, capture preferable picture from video and more. At the same time, this F4V Converter is built with a F4V player which can help you open F4V and play F4V easily.

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Answer 11

Jan 17, 2014 5:34 PM in response to PeterBreis0807

I guess to convert SWF files need some professional SWF converter, but not some common video converters, for I have tried video converter to do the conversion, which does not work with SWF videos.

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Answer 12

Sep 17, 2015 9:03 PM in response to PeterBreis0807

What Is F4V Format?

There are two different video file formats known as Flash Video: FLV and F4V. Flash Video content may also be embedded within SWF files. F4V, based on the ISO base media file format, is similar to MP4 format. Starting with Flash Player 9 update 3, F4V is a standard format that is widely used to distribute dynamic media across the Internet. F4V files are actually container files that are used for the playback of certain media files. There are functional limits with the FLV structure when streaming H.264 or AAC which could not be overcome, so Adobe developed a new format, F4V.

F4V files support H.264, also known as MPEG-4 AVC (Advanced Video Coding). H.264 is a video compression standard that offers significantly greater compression than its predecessors. F4V does not support some old video and audio codec in FLV format, like Screen, Sorenson Spark, VP6 video codecs and ADPCM, Nellymoser audio codecs.

MP4 is an Mac friendly format, so what you need to do is converting F4V to MP4.

In the above link mentioned website, there is also a solution to convert SWF to MP4. Just search "SWF to MP4 Converter" on the mentioned website.

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