When it comes to importing images as video clips, you can import images of any type supported by Storyboard Pro into your video tracks. However, if you want to import video files, some considerations must be taken in regards to the format of the video.
Storyboard Pro is able to import movie files in QuickTime Movie (.mov), MPEG-4 (.mp4, .m4a) and WebM (.webm) format on both Windows and macOS. It is also able to import movie files in Windows Media Video (.wmv) format, but on Windows only. However, while the WebM and Windows Media Video formats use very specific codecs, the QuickTime and MPEG-4 formats are versatile movie containers that support a wide variety of video and audio codecs. While Storyboard Pro is able to decode some of the most commonly used codecs, it is not able to decode all of them.
To decode QuickTime Movie (.mov), MPEG-4 (.mp4, .m4a) and Windows Media Video (.wmv) files, Storyboard Pro uses the media foundation of your machine's operating system, which means it is only able to decode movies using codecs that are supported by your operating system.
When you import a movie file with audio, you can also, optionally, import its audio track into your project. However, this audio track will also be decoded using your operating system's media foundation, meaning it also needs to be encoded using a codec that is supported by your operating system.
For reference, here is a list of video and audio codecs that are known to work in Storyboard Pro, depending on your operating system:
| Operating System | Container | Supported Video Codecs | Supported Audio Codecs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Windows | QuickTime Movie (.mov) |
|
|
| MPEG-4 (.mp4, .m4a) |
|
|
|
| WebM (.webm) |
|
|
|
| Windows Media Video (.wmv) |
|
|
|
| macOS |
QuickTime Movie (.mov) |
|
|
|
MPEG-4 (.mp4, .m4v) |
|
|
|
| WebM (.webm) |
|
|
- The containers and codecs in bold are supported on both operating systems. Exporting your videos in these settings will ensure intercompatibility.
- Video codecs that are underlined support the alpha channel. It is recommended to use them if you want to import videos with transparency.
- You may also be able to import video clips in other formats if you have additional codecs installed on your operating system.
Since each platform supports different codec, a video that plays properly when the project is open on one platform may not be playable if the project is opened on a different computer that uses a different platform. To avoid this, it is recommended to create your video clips in formats that are supported by both operating systems, such as:
- QuickTime Movie (.mov) or MPEG-4 (.mp4, .m4v) with a video stream in AVC (H.264) and, if the video has sound, an audio stream in AAC.
- WebM (.webm) with a video stream in VP8 or VP9 and no audio.
If the video stream of your movie file uses an unsupported format, you may be able to easily transcode it using Apple QuickTime:
-
On Windows: If Apple QuickTime is installed on your computer, Storyboard Pro will prompt you to transcode the video in WebM (VP9) format so that it can import it.
- On macOS: If you open a video with an unsupported video codec in QuickTime Player, it will prompt you to convert it to Apple ProRes. Then, in QuickTime Player, you can select File > Save from the top menu to save the converted video as a new file. You can import this file into your Storyboard Pro project.
If you try to import the movie file's audio stream into your project, but that audio stream uses an unsupported codec, only the video stream will be imported and the audio stream will be ignored. To remedy this, you can do either of the following:
- Export your video using a supported audio codec.
- Export the sound track of your video into an audio file in Waveform (.wav) or in Audio Interchange File Format (.aiff) and import it into your project's audio track separately.