Extracting/Converting/Compressing Video Files from Mobile Phones
In this tutorial you will learn how to extract video files from your mobile phone and compress/convert them using the program Any Video Converter.
Extracting a File From Your Phone
1. Once you connect your cell phone via USB into the computer, you will see the device that we are going to be using. (See image 1)
Image 1
2. Double click your device(Shown in image 1) and it will open up the phones storage (the Memory card or internal storage). Depending on where your phone saves files, you might have to click on the storage area that the video is saved to. Most likely, the video shot directly from your phone’s camera will be saved to the phone’s internal storage. (See image 2)
Image2
3. Double click the storage option wherever your video is saved to. You will see a folder called DCIM. DCIM is short for Digital Camera IMages. This is the default directory structure for digital cameras. This is where any Video or Image gets saved automatically after using the mobile phone’s camera. Since you have not transferred the file yet, the video will be in the DCIM folder. (See image 3)
Image 3
4. Since the Video file is in the DCIM folder, you want to open the folder and extract it to the desktop. To do this, double click on the DCIM folder. You will then see a folder called “Camera” where all the files (Video, Images, etc…) are saved. (See image 4 and 5)
Image 4 Image 5
5. After you find the file you want within the “Camera” folder, click and drag it to your computer’s Desktop to extract it from your phone. (See image 6)
Image 6
6. Now that you have the video file on our desktop you can disconnect your phone from the computer. In the next section wie will go over compressing and converting video files using any video converter
Converting and Compressing Video Files in Any Video Converter
We need a software to be able to convert/compress files. The software we are going to be using to convert/compress the video file is called “Any Video Converter” you can download it here: http://www.any-video-converter.com/products/for_video_free/ below is what “Any Video Converter” looks like once it has been installed. (See Image 7)
Image 7
1. To convert /compress video files, we must select which file we want first. Select the “Add Video Files” button. When the window appears, we are going to look in the “Desktop” since we already saved a copy of the file there earlier, select the file and click “Open.” (See image 8)
Image 8
2. Next we are going to select what file type we are going to convert to. Any Video Converter will allow you to convert video files to numerous other video file formats. You can choose one of these formats by changing the “Output Profile” to whatever you like. However, When working with your e-Portfolio, the system only accepts the following format types: avi, flv, mov, mp4, mpeg, mpg, swf, wmv. (See image 9)
Image 9
3. After you choose the desired output file format, we can also compress the video to a smaller file size (The size of the file I am using is 25mb). We can compress the video to a smaller file size by changing the “Video Bitrate” or The “Audio Bitrate.” However, you will see more of a change in file size when you change the “Video Bitrate.” The “Video Bitrate” can be edited by selecting the dropdown icon next to the Bitrate’s number. I would suggest selecting one or two bitrate options right before the bitrate that is currently being used. In this example, the current bitrate of the video is 6134kbps, so I would click on the bitrate 4000kbps . If you reduce the bitrate too much, you can risk losing the quality of your video or Video/Audio sync problems. In certain cases you may have to bring bitrate down more then what we are. (See image 10)
Image 10 / Video Bitrate - This is the amount of data that each second of video uses. Typically, this is measured in kilobits per second. Bit rates can be either Constant or Variable. A constant bit rate stays the same throughout the video, which can lead to larger video files. A variable bit rate changes depending on the amount of action on the screen, which will lead to smaller files.
4. Once you have selected the desried file format and set the desired bitrate, you can now convert/compress the video. Simply click on the “Convert Now!” button and your video will start converting. Depending on the size of the video it may take a few second to a few minutes to convert. (See images 11 and 12)
Image 11
Image 12
5. When your video is finished converting you get the following window to pop up telling you to click the “Open the Output Folder” button. When you do, it will open the location of your newly converted/compressed video file. (See images 13 and 14)
Image 13
Image 14
6. You can drag and drop the newly converted/compressed file to the desktop for easy access to it. Before you drag it to the desktop, you can also check the file size by selecting the file and reading the information about the newly converted video. Our original video file size was 25mb the new file size is about 15mb (If you need a smaller file size you can just convert the video again using a lower video bitrate).
Image 15
Extracting/Converting/Compressing video files from a mobile phone