Saving Flash MP4 Files For Streaming Distribution (H.264)
Flash is a fantastic tool for streaming video! It took me (what seems like weeks) to figure out how to set my encoder to encode a mix of video and screen recording content at a reasonable size and quality. Here is what I discovered worked best for my needs.
(By the way, Flash can now play MP4 (MPEG4) videos as if they were FLV files. The quality is awesome and the new player takes advantage of video devices that support hardware acceleration. Yep, stream HD content to the desktop if you like…)
I use QuickTime Pro 7.5.5 as my compression tool, but I’m sure you can find similar settings in other programs that work with the MPEG4 codec.
1) Open your video in QuickTime
2) Go to “File -> Export”
3) Choose “Movie to MPEG4″
4) Click “Options”
5) Modify your settings as they are in the graphic below:
How to set QuickTime Streaming MP4 For Flash 9+
- File Format: MP4
- Video Format: H.264 (Yes, Flash 9.0.124.0 and above, just download 10 already, support the H.264 codec!)
- Data Rate: 220 kbits/sec (for mixed video and screen recording content)
- Optimized for: Streaming
- Image Size: 640 . 480 VGA
- Frame Rate: 10 (this worked best for me)
- Key Frame: Every: 75 frames
6) Click OK and then Encode
You can pull the file you create into any Flash 9.0.124.0 project the same way you would a .fla file. The File extension doesn’t even matter, Flash only cares about the content in the file, not its extension. If you hard coded your player to only view .flv files simply rename your .mp4 file to .flv and it should work flawlessly!
Good luck!
