by Liana Lehua

We were compressing an iLifeZone screencast for upload to iTunes, and everything was peachy. I mean, it was peachy until we found out that the resolution I was using while recording the screencasts was not compatible for viewing on the iPhone. I didn’t catch it during my post process either, so when an iLifeZone subscriber would sync my screencast to his/her iPhone, no video would show or play.

So, I had to check myself and make sure that my process included me recording my screencasts at an aspect ratio that would size correctly for iTunes, iPhones, and video iPods. I had a brain fart and was recording my screencasts at 1024 x 640. I need to increase my brain food during my morning meals. I have no idea where I came up with that setting - way off. When I am eating optimally and my brain is functioning properly, my ideal setting is to screencast at a resolution of 1024 x 768. That value is complimentary to the 4:3 aspect ratio, or the 640 x 480 resolution, supported by the iPhone, video iPod, and by Apple TV. This size preserves the aspect ratio that fits within the 480 x 360 landscape orientation on the iPhone. From the Apple knowledge base, the iPhone and iPod can play the following video formats:

• H.264 video, up to 1.5 Mbps, 640 x 480, 30 frames per sec., Low-Complexity version of the Baseline Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 kbps, 48 Khz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats
• H.264 video, up to 768 kbps, 320 x 240, 30 frames per sec., Baseline Profile up to Level 1.3 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 kbps, 48 Khz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats
• MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 x 480, 30 frames per sec., Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 kbps, 48 Khz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats

If you need a refresher, as I sure did, or, are new to video compression for your shiny new 16GB iPhone and are wondering about supported file formats and types, check out the Apple’s iPhone Technical Specs here.

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