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After Uploading, mov file not recognised (6 posts)

  • Started 15 years ago by Zoolook
  • Latest reply 15 years ago from Scott McGuire
  • Zoolook Member

    Hi,

    After uploading a h.264 file, it is not recognised as being a valid mov file when trying to download or open in a browser. I've tried uploading the file as binary and text and automatic.

    Any hints?

    Posted 15 years ago #

  • Scott McGuire Administrator

    Hi,

    When you say it's not being recognised as a valid mov file, what exactly happens when you try to open it in a browser? And what extension does the file have?

    Thanks,

    Scott McGuire
    Fetch Softworks

    Posted 15 years ago #

  • Zoolook Member

    When trying to open in a browser, I just get the Quicktime Symbol and a question mark. If I download it to a folder and try to open it. it says it's not a valid move file. The extension is .mov

    The file is here

    http://markanthonyhall.us/dump/ibankbug4.mov

    Now if I zip it, ad upload it, te file opens fine

    http://markanthonyhall.us/dump/ibankbug4.MOV.zip

    Posted 15 years ago #

  • Scott McGuire Administrator

    Hi,

    Thanks for the links, they helped me identify the problem.

    First some background:

    The problem is that your movie includes both a data fork and a resource fork - if you are not familiar with those terms, let's just say the movie file has two parts to it. The "resource fork" part is only understood by Macintosh computers; other kinds of computers only recognize and understand the data fork part. So when Fetch uploads files to servers, normally it only uploads the data fork part of files.

    But because of the format used by your movie, the movie won't work without both parts of the file, which is why when you upload it normally, it doesn't work after being uploaded - because the resource fork part is not in the uploaded version of the movie. However, when you zip a file, the file is encoded in such a way that preserves both the data and resource fork parts, even on uploads, which is why the movie works when you first zip it and then download it again - because it still has both parts.

    And now the solution:

    The good news is there's a simple way to change your movie into a format that has only a data fork (so that it has only one part); Apple makes this easy to do because of course lots of people - like you - want your movies to work when uploaded to the web or to Windows computers. Changing a movie that has both data and resource forks parts into one that has only a data fork part is called "flattening" the movie.

    All you need to do is use QuickTime Player to re-save your movie. If you open up your movie in QuickTime Player, go to the File menu, and choose Save As, you should see two options - "Save as a self-contained movie" or "save as a reference movie." Select "Save as a self-contained movie", enter a new name for the copy of the file, and choose Save. This will not re-encode your movie, so it should be quick. This new copy of your movie should have only a data fork, and should work properly when you upload it using Automatic or Binary format with Fetch. I have tested this using the movie you linked to.

    The program you're using to create the movies may also have an option for creating the movie as a "flattened" movie to begin with, so that you don't need to go through this extra step of re-saving the movie.

    Please let me know if this solves the problem, or if you have any questions about the above.

    Thanks,

    Scott McGuire
    Fetch Softworks

    Posted 15 years ago #

  • Zoolook Member

    Hey, that's a great explanation and worked perfectly. Thanks a lot.

    Posted 15 years ago #

  • Scott McGuire Administrator

    Hi,

    You're welcome, glad to hear you're all set!

    Best,

    Scott McGuire
    Fetch Softowrks

    Posted 15 years ago #

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