When inserting video into PowerPoint, you need to balance between quality and performance. It is common for PowerPoint to perform poorly when trying to play back video files that are too large.
Consider trying the following settings, but you should also experiment depending on the capabilities of your computer:
For high definition video in PowerPoint:
- Windows Media Video High definition (WMV HD)
- 1280×720 (720p) resolution
- 25 or 30 frames per second (try to keep it the same as the source video)
- Approx 5mbps bitrate
For standard definition video in PowerPoint:
- Windows Media Video (WMV)
- 640×480 resolution
- 25 or 30 frames per second (try to keep it the same as the source video)
- Approx 2mbps bitrate
If you are using PowerPoint for Mac, use the same resolution, frame rates, and bit rates as above, but encode your video to QuickTime H.264 instead of Windows Media Video.
Always remember to place your video files in the same directory as the PowerPoint presentation. If you move the PowerPoint file to another computer, you need to move the video files with it, as these are not embedded in the PPT or PPTX file.
View more information about converting video and flash files for use in Microsoft PowerPoint for Windows or Mac.
#1 by Joel Guinness on January 29, 2009 - 12:50 pm
What is the size limit for a video you are trying to insert into powerpoint? It seems that over 10MB gives problems.
#2 by Steven Wylie on January 29, 2009 - 2:32 pm
Hi there,
There isn’t a set limit for video files in PowerPoint – in fact, PowerPoint only references a video file, it doesn’t embed it into the presentation.
However, the file size that you can get away with will largely depend on the capabilities of the computer that you’re running – do you have a dedicated graphics card, enough RAM, a fast hard drive, and do you have other programs running at the same time? These factors are likely to affect the performance of your computer, and of the PowerPoint presentation when playing back video files.
In my experience, it is best to aim to keep your video below 100mb in size. The best way to achieve this is to compress it to Windows Media Video format, which is a very lightweight CODEC.