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Compressing or converting a video

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    Compressing or converting a video

    This guide will walk you through compressing your file to a smaller size and/or converting your file to a supported format. (Please note that we are referencing these third-party programs as tools that should work for you, but we cannot provide any support for these products directly.)

    Recording in SD

    You can save yourself the hassle of compressing your files by lowering the resolution on your recording device prior to recording. The resolution should optimally be set to standard definition (360p or 480p).

    Please Note

    If you are unable to upload your file after compressing it, you will need to connect to a faster internet connection, or you can transfer your file to a computer with a wired connection and upload from there.  For additional help with uploading, please see our troubleshooting uploads guide.

    What computer/device are you using?

    Compressing a video in Windows Movie Maker

    Microsoft has discontinued support for MovieMaker, but you may still have it installed on your computer.  If so, follow the steps below. If you do not have Windows Movie Maker, see the section below (Compressing a video in Shotcut).

    1. Open Movie Maker.
    2. Click the "Add Videos and Photos" button and select your video file.
    3. Click the "Save Movie" drop-down at the top right. 
    4. At the bottom of that list, choose "Create custom setting . . ."
    5. For "Bit rate," enter "600" (leave the other settings as they are).

      Movie_Maker_2.png

    6. Click "Save" and then "Save" again to preserve your settings for future GoReact files, then "Close" after you’ve saved the settings.
    7. Click the "Save Movie" drop-down again and select the GoReact settings that you just created.
    8. Name your file (you should save as a new file and not overwrite the old one), choose .mp4 as the file type, and click "Save."
    9. Wait for the video to save and then upload your newly compressed file to GoReact.

    Compressing a video in Shotcut

    If you do not have Windows Movie Maker, you can download a different video editor, such as Shotcut.  Follow the steps below to compress your video using Shotcut.

    1. Download Shotcut here. (Make sure to download either “64-bit Windows installer” or “32-bit Windows installer” depending on your operating system. Don't click any other links or buttons on this page.)
    2. Run the file to install Shotcut.
    3. Open Shotcut.
    4. Click the Open File button and select your video file.
    5. Click the Export button, and change the format to mp4 and the resolution to 640 x 360 (if the aspect ratio is 16:9) or 640 x 480 (if the aspect ratio is 4:3).

      shotcut.PNG

    6. Click Export File.
    7. Choose where you would like to save the new file (you should save as a new file and not overwrite the old one).
    8. A menu will open on the right-side of the program that says "Jobs." Wait for the file to say “Done.”
    9. Close the program and upload your newly converted file to GoReact.

    Please Note

    After compressing or editing a video, you should always save/export your file as an MP4 or other acceptable file format. GoReact doesn't allow project files to be uploaded (.wlmp, .mlt, .imovieproj, etc.)

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