Best practices for uploading videos in Showpad

Note: This article is no longer maintained. For updated information, please refer to the corresponding Admin App article. We recommend updating your links if you’ve linked to this article.

When you add a video to your Content Library, you can use these best practices to make sure that your file uploads fine and does not take too much time to process. It is possible to use HD content and these recommendations can be used if your video file is not displayed correctly on the devices of your users.

If your users use Showpad's Web app, we will stream the video from our servers to the screen. The quality of the video depends on the internet connection speed. This way, viewers will still be able to see the video regardless of the quality of their internet connection. You can also decide not to have the file processed. In that case, the original file will be streamed in its original quality. When downloading the video, it will always be the video in the original format and quality.

Key features

• Upload video files to Showpad
• Use the following extensions:
  .mov, .wmv, .mp4, .m4v, .3gp, .mpg, .mpeg, .avi, .asf, .flv
• Some video formats are platform-specific. A .mov file won't play on an Android device for example
• You can upload a file size of up to 4 GB. See the Supported file types article to verify the file types and recommended sizes of your video files. 
• Check the documentation of your device to see what movie files can be played
• Special codecs to compress file size, like DivX (AVI), are not supported
• Use these recommended settings when the video plays incorrectly

You need this to succeed

These minimal settings will always work when creating videos for Showpad. Larger videos than these will also work, but these are good starting points:

• mp4 Format
• 25 or 29.97 fps frame rate
• 6-8 Mbps Bit Rate
• 1280 x 720 resolution

Do this step by step

• We recommend you save your video in .mp4 format to make sure the processing of the video goes smoothly. To convert to .mp4, you might need a tool. You can ask the original video creator to export the file with these recommended settings or use the following free tools to convert the video file. Handbrake (desktop tool)
  Cloud Convert (web-based tool)
  This tool is great for basic conversion. However, the free account has its limitations with processing large, high-quality videos.
  
  
• To ensure optimal playback on Showpad, please make sure the following attributes are close to the following values:
  Frame Rate: 29.97
  Bit Rate: 6-8Mbps

• Make sure your resolution isn't unnecessarily high. When a video is uploaded, we will reduce it to an optimal resolution for Showpad use. Before uploading a video set the resolution to about 1280x720. 

• Always consider that when you're uploading a large file, it might take a while for the file to get processed.
  
  
• When you upload a video file to Showpad, we automatically generate a thumbnail. This thumbnail is the middle frame of your video. You can select a different thumbnail by clicking on the file.
  
• If you're using the Showpad Web app where video content is streamed, the following formats are compatible: