How can I export video from Photos for Mac as mp4 files?

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Level 1

96 points

How can I export video from Photos for Mac as mp4 files?

I'm not a big user of video files, but I happened to take a video today using my iPhone, and then I exported it onto my Mac desktop from the Photos for Mac app.

I was really surprised, though, to see the file start to be played as a Windows file in Windows Media Player under Parallels. I'd expected it to be played within the Mac environment.

When I looked into this I saw that the file that had been exported was an .m4v file, and I think this is why the Windows side of things took over.

If I simply changed the filename from xxxxx.m4v into xxxxx.mp4, the video was opened and played within the Mac environment on Quicktime, which is what I wanted.

How can I have Photos export videos as .mp4 files so that I don't have to manually rename them please?

MacBook Pro, macOS Sierra (10.12.3)

Posted on Apr 6, 2017 7:56 AM

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Answer 1

Old Toad

Level 10

215,748 points

Apr 6, 2017 9:57 AM in response to Steve Zodiac

Doesn't need to be on the Desktop. Put it in the Applications folder and drag to the Dock. Then drag onto the icon in the Dock.

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Answer 2

Steve Zodiac Author

Level 1

96 points

Apr 6, 2017 9:42 AM in response to Old Toad

Thanks OT.

I appreciate that, but the frequency at which I use/view/export video files doesn't warrant the extra thing on my desktop.

I'd sort of assumed that there might have been something I'd missed in Photos, like a 'Default video export format'option, but it seems not.

(Which is a bit puzzling, really. Why do Apple seem to want to force one to export within their platforms in what I assume is a Windows format?)

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Answer 3

Old Toad

Level 10

215,748 points

Apr 6, 2017 9:37 AM in response to Steve Zodiac

You can't export but you can create an Automator app that will change the .m4v extension to .mp4 for any file dropped on it.

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