Why does an MP4 17MB video , become an 80MB MOV video file after transfer?

Hi gvdid1!

Thanks for your question. Interesting issue, how did you originally save the MP4 video on your iPad? Did you sync it with iTunes or saved it from an email? Maybe the video was actually converted to MOV format when it was originally saved to the photos app. The only time we do a conversion of format is when sending videos from an HD capable device like the iPhone 4 or 4S to an older device like an iPhone 3G or 3GS, other than that we send the video exactly as it is stored on the 'Photos' app. That's why I think the 'Photos' app is actually making the conversion when saving the video from the original source.

Let me know what's the origin of the video and we can try to figure this out.

Cheers,

Enrique
Photo Transfer App

Hi Enrique,

The original video was taken with the iPad2, not sync'd from any, or to any other device.

I wanted to bring it to my computer, from it's original source, (my iPad2), but when I used the Photo Transfer App to send it to my PC it became the MOV larger file.

I recently uploaded it to my brothers FTP site, using the "easyFTP" App, so I could transfer it as an MP4 file without the conversion, then I put it onto a RapidShare account, so you can take a look at it.

Here are the links. (it's not anything private or personal, it's a fire in my building).

Video 1 is around 18 MB (the fire trucks come as the flames blaze)
https://rapidshare.com/files/17280492...

Video 2 is around 38 MB (fire raging now, the fireman walks up the ladder to the roof)
https://rapidshare.com/files/39580764...

Use the "Download" button on the page, at each link, to get the file with a computer.
You don't need to create an account to "Save To your Computers Hard Drive".

It's strange it converted it to a larger MOV, I transferred other videos, with the older version of the App, v3.1, and didn't have it convert to a larger MOV file at that time.

Maybe you can figure out what happened of you have these two original MP4 files.

Thanks for the extra info and the videos. WOW, that looks very close! I'm glad you are ok, I hope nobody got injured!

The thing that is very strange about this is that the iPad should save the video as MOV format. When you take a video on the iPad the resulting file will be on MOV format so I think what's happening is that the 'easyFTP' app is actually downsizing the video and converting it to MP4 and that's why the file is different. Our app looks at the file untouched from the 'Photos' app which should be in the original MOV format. So I think the difference is that the other app is transforming and resizing the video from its original size/format when reading it from the 'Photos' app. I hope this makes some sense. Let me know if you have other comments/ideas.

Best regards,

Enrique

**** Edited ****
You can ignore this post and view my next one ... :-)
DUH...!
****************
(I just cut my "jibber-jabber" out of this post, I didn't understand your concept before.)

This next part I left... Thanks.

------ By The Way ------
Thanks for the concern regarding the fire. ... Yes! .. It was actually one window away from mine, one floor down.

That fire-escape is shared by two apartments (flats) , and the window the flames were coming from was directly under, by one window over, from where mine is, one floor higher.

I took that video two rooms further to the back, (3 windows away) and still felt some of the heat from that fire while recording. ... I didn't hear if anyone was injured, but, if the person didn't get out on time, they most likely suffered from smoke-inhalation.

Enrique, I must have fire damage in my brain ... ! ... :-)

I understand what you meant now. ... I was thinking the file was being made into the large MOV file from the MP4, but now see you're right... It's originally a MOV file from the iPad2, and the "easyFTP" App was compressing it to a MP4 to transfer over that App. ... It wasn't changing the original file, just doing it in its own memory
:-)

I tell ya... maybe I do have some of that fire inhalation damage, myself ... 'cause I really thought it was an MP4 from the iPad, and forgot it gets made as a MOV on there.

You know why I was confused?
... not being able to see the original file extension at the end of the original file name. ... And when I saw it in that FTP program I assumed it was an MP4 file, on the iPad.

Hey, ... I'm really sorry I didn't get the concept earlier. :-p

Hi gvdid1,

No problem! :) I'm glad the issue is clarified! Actually, thinking about this issue made me think of a feature that I think could be useful which would be to offer a medium resolution version of videos as well. Right now you can download the full resolution version of the video but sometimes you actually don't need the HD version of it specially when publishing to the web or simply sharing the video of a fire in your building with a friend :) So, maybe a good feature would be to allow people to download a medium resolution version which would dramatically decrease the size of the file specially when the videos are taken with an iPhone 4S or the new iPad. Anyways, just a thought triggered by this conversation.

Cheers!

Enrique

This could be usefull for those without conversion programs, or for a quick YouTube or other social media upload

If you're wondering what the building looked like after the fire ...

it was actually worse than I thought. ... it wasn't just one unit burned or damaged, ...

One was totally destroyed, where it started on the 4th floor front...
The one above that mostly destroyed, not as bad as the lower floor, but bad enough ...

and the top floor was just starting to catch, when the firemen put it out...
... it mostly had smoke damage.

Plus, the third floor has water damage from the massive amounts of water sprayed on the Apts above.

I think the two residents on the other two floors (4th and 5th) didn't make it out.

Here's a picture of the final damage.
I was at the upper-floor, corner right-side of the picture...
out the window next to the corner air conditioner,... taking the video with the iPad2 ... !

Wow! that's really crazy, I'm glad you are well, you were so close!! I feel bad for the people who were affected by this, sad. I hope things will get to back to normal in your building!