Do you have any recommendations on the best way to view MP4 video files on both my iPhone7 or my iPad Air 2?
Whenever someone sends me an email with a MP4 file attached, I can see that there is an attachment to the email, but can find no way of viewing it. For interest, I can view the files on my iMac.
I understand that I will probably need to get or buy an app from the App Store, but would welcome your advice on any specific ones to get.
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BoJo
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How Do I View MP4 Video Files On an iPhone or iPad?
Comments: 4 Responses to “How Do I View MP4 Video Files On an iPhone or iPad?”
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You shouldn't need anything special to view most MP4 files. Just tap on it right there in the Mail app and it should play.
If that doesn't work, perhaps one of two things is happening:
1. Maybe the mp4 file contains something unusual. An "mp4" file is just a container. Inside could be a lot of different things. It could be a standard h264-compressed video. Or, it could be some other video format. Or it could be a standard video format that uses weird settings -- like an odd bitrate or something. There are dozens of settings. So maybe the source that is emailing you these videos is sending you some non-standard stuff.
2. Maybe the person sending you these videos is attaching them to their emails in an odd way. Depending on which of the many email clients on many systems they could be using, the attachment could come across in a container file, like a zip or something else.
You can test this out for yourself. Take a quick 2-second video on your iPhone and email it to yourself. Then you should easily be able to see it play right in Mail by tapping it.
Thanks for your input Gary.
I have tried your suggestion of making a quick recording with my iPhone and it records in .MOV format, not MP4. When I email it, I can see it in the received email and when I tap on it, it works.
In the case of an MP4 file, I can’t see it in the email. I do see a paper clip showing that there is an attachment, but there is nothing shown in the email to click on.
Your comments would be appreciated.
BoJo: MOV and MP4 -- these are just file extensions, not formats. They can both contain videos. If it helps, think of them like blue and white envelopes. You can put paper in both. It isn't like you can only put certain types of paper in one and not the other. Try changing the name of your .mov file on your Mac to .mp4 and you'll find it works the same. Send yourself that .mp4-named file now.
Thank you very much for your help Gary.
I think that probably your option 2 is the problem. As mentioned, I couldn’t see the attachment so went into the email using Safari and could see it, but it wouldn’t play, so I saved it off, then reattached the newly saved file to a new email, “hey presto”, it worked fine.
Thank you again for your help.