PowerPoint can be temperamental when playing back video files. Typically, where I have the choice, I would rather switch to a DVD or videotape and then switch back to the presentation again.
However, for those situations where you do need to insert video into PowerPoint, here are a couple of tips:
Generally speaking, you will achieve the best results if you use Windows Media Video (WMV) files for PowerPoint on Windows, or QuickTime H.264 files for PowerPoint on a Mac. Other QuickTime CODECs are supported on Mac, but H.264 is one of the best around for presentation use.
PowerPoint also supports a select few AVI CODECs (including the popular Video for Windows, or MS DV AVI), however these formats will typically produce files which are too large for a computer to handle seamless playback, especially when inserted in a PowerPoint presentation.
If you need to make the video in your PowerPoint presentation compatible with both Windows and Mac, your best bet is to either create 2 versions of the video – a Windows Media Video (WMV) and a QuickTime H.264 (or another QuickTime CODEC).
There are a couple of essential tools for converting video to work with PowerPoint:
Microsoft Windows Media Encoder (Free): Microsoft’s free Windows Media Encoder will take files from a range of common formats and convert them to Windows Media Video (WMV) format, which is likely to play far better when embedded into PowerPoint.
Swiff Point Player (Free): Swiff Point Player is a free utility that assists in inserting SWF Flash movie files into PowerPoint on Windows. It’s possible to achieve this without this utility, using instructions from Adobe – however this utility greatly simplifies the process.
QuickTime Pro: If you need to convert your files to run on a Mac, or if you have files that aren’t playing correctly in PowerPoint on your Mac, then you can purchase QuickTime Pro for either Windows or Mac and convert your video files to a range of QuickTime formats, including H.264.
Flip4Mac: Offers a range of utilities (at a range of prices) that allows you to play Windows Media Video (WMV) files on a Mac from within QuickTime. Flip4Mac also gives QuickTime the ability to convert files to and from WMV format.
Thomson Grass Valley Procoder: If you have a little more money to spend, and are after a great video converter which will accept and output almost any video CODEC, consider Canopus Procoder.
View more information on ideal resolutions, frame rates, and other parameters for inserting video into PowerPoint.
#1 by Antonio on November 6, 2008 - 1:11 pm
Good info. I’m looking forward to the pro app Episode, from the Flip4Mac people, that’s coming for Windows. From all the stuff I’ve read, it appears to be *the* All-in-One encoding tool.
#2 by yungchin on January 28, 2009 - 11:52 pm
Hi, thanks for this. I was trying to produce video to include in Powerpoint on a Mac, and so I opted for H.264 in an mp4-container. It plays back in Quicktime just fine, but apparently Powerpoint doesn’t accept it – should I put it in a different container?
#3 by Steven Wylie on January 29, 2009 - 11:16 am
Hi, try H.264 in a .mov container. PowerPoint Mac should be happy with .mov files.
#4 by yungchin on April 3, 2009 - 10:07 am
Hi, sorry I never thanked you for your reply! I just happened to end up here again today…
The colleague I was helping with that video told me that it worked, but later it turned out that they transcoded it to get it to work
#5 by Bob Diamond on May 20, 2011 - 6:44 pm
Hi, any video file size and resolution limitations on the video? This is certainly more convenient to do rather than switching between a slideshow and a separate video.
Thanks for the tip!