The VideoLAN Forums

Hi. I'm a mac using VLC 2.2.2. I use VLC a lot for various effects such as gaussian blur. In these cases I can specify the output VLC/convert/convert and stream. On this page I can specify the output format and I choose the MP4/MOV alternative. However, the resulting output format is .m4v which is kinda of the same but not really. Is there something I can do to make VLC produce a proper mp4-file?

mp4 and m4v is exactly the same. Its only a different ending apple invented.

Hi,
I tried to convert a VOB file to an mp4. Under 'Encapsulation' I chose 'MP4/MOV', yet the extension that
shows up under "Choose Destination" is "m4v" and the output file is m4v.

The conversion from VOB to m4v was successful. However, I want to edit the file in iMovie, but the m4v file
is not recognized by iMovie and simply changing the extension to 'mp4' doesn't help either.

Any suggestions?
Thanks

Following are the steps to convert VLC files to MP4 with VLC itself

Step 1. Launch VLC

Run VLC media player, and click “Media” and “Open Multiple Files…” on main UI.

Step 2. Add video to VLC

Then you’ll b brougt to the “Open Media” interface. Under “File” option, you can add the local videos to VLC, or remove them from VLC. Choose “Convert” at bottom-right corner.

Step 3. Choose MP4 as output format

After choosing “Convert”, you’ll come to the “Convert” interface. Choose “Audio - MP3 (MP4)” under “Profile” dropdown list.

I have a large 1 GB mpeg (that consists of many digitized short 8 mm films) that I converted to m4v (no other choice on macbook) and then I simply changed the extension to mp4. It worked but only for the first 30 second movie. Maybe I didn't wait long enough for the entire conversion process, because I later noticed that the resulting file was only 58 MB.

Instead, I installed VLC on my virtual Windows. Here I was able to select the desired output mp4 and it was only then that I noticed that the conversion process was going to take quite a while, so I just let it sit. This morning I had a 141 MB file that seems to have all the small films in it.

So my conclusion is:
If you are using VLC on a mac, you should be able to change the extension from m4v to mp4 but just make sure the entire mpeg is converted before you do so.
Or use VLC under Windows where you have the option to select mp4 output.

Well, I am disappointed. I have two mp4 files now (moviea.mp4 and movieb.mp4) but in the column "Kind" in the finder, these are still MPEG-4 files.
Apparently I have converted them from "multiplexed MPEG 1/2" to MPEG-4 but I still cannot import them into iMovie.
I need to head over to iMovie forums.