Troubleshooting Video Assets

If you receive an error message when trying to import a video into Switcher Studio, or if your video asset does not play once it is in Switcher Studio, it is usually due to one of the following causes:

  • The video was imported using iCloud and is not stored on the device

  • The video is not in the correct file format

Jump to:

Ensuring Video Assets Are Not Imported Using iCloud

In order for an asset to be used in Switcher Studio, it must be stored locally. If you import an asset using iCloud, often times the file is not stored on the device. If the file is only in iCloud, Switcher will have issues performing a playback. This is especially true if auto backup is enabled for your iCloud account.

We recommend against using iCloud to import any assets. Instead, we recommend uploading the video file using Switcher Cloud to ensure the file is stored directly in Switcher on the device.

Ensuring Video Assets are in the Correct File Format

Switcher Studio supports video files in the following formats:

  • .mp4

  • .mov (QuickTime)

Note: Additionally, video must be encoded in H.264 (a.k.a. AVC) or HEVC (a.k.a. H.265). And audio must be encoded in AAC, MP3 or LPCM. Some QuickTime files have compressed metadata. This is a rare occurrence, but compressed metadata is not supported by the app.

Correcting Video Formatting Issues

Use video editing software to render it into a usable format

  • Open your video editing program.

  • Import the video file.

  • Render it out into a usable format.

Note: A great free program we recommend is Handbrake. This video walks through the process of using Handbrake to convert a video file into a usable format:

Use an online video converter

If you cannot use a video editor to convert the video, there are several online video converters that can achieve this for you. Zamzar and Online Video Converter are two great options.