Converting Video to Flash Format (FLV)
So, you’ve got your video content. You want to get it up and streaming. How? Follow these steps to convert it to Flash format:
To convert video files to FLV format you will need a conversion application referred to as a converter or encoder. Converters are fairly easy to use — you import a file, choose from some preset options (and customize the settings, if required), then export to Flash video (FLV).
There are many converters/encoders available — some free, some cheap, some expensive. A quick Google search will return many encoders/converters for FLV. Some popular choices are shown below:
- Adobe/Macromedia Flash: The official Flash authoring program comes bundled with a utility called Flash 8 Video Encoder. (Tutorial Here)
- Sorenson Squeeze: A powerful and versatile conversion application.
- ffmpeg: A command line tool for converting many different video formats to other video formats, including FLV.
Example usage for ffmpeg:
ffmpeg -y -i "example.avi" -vcodec flv -s 480x360 -b 500k -r 10 -pass 1 -ar 22050 -ab 128k -f flv example.flv
Where -vcodec is the codec to use, -s is the size, -b is the bitrate, -r is the frame rate, -pass is the pass number, -ar is audio sampling frequency, -ab is audio bitrate -f is the output format.
Full documentation can be found here.
Tips:
- If your converter or encoder supports multi-pass encoding, we recommend you do so – this will improve the quality of the final product.
- If you don't want to convert video yourself, you can contact us for a quote. (Please tell us what format your file(s) are in and their size.)