I'm trying to get rid of my Google photos and have been downloading around 20 years of files. The video downloads in a .mov format but doesn't play through iTunes or Windows without buying a codec. That's fine - it's like 80p but that won't help playing the files through Apple when I re-upload them to the Photos app. Is there a free conversion software that is pretty much a click and leave option so I can batch convert video from this hevc extension .mov file to mp4 or something similar? Not fussed about retaining every pixel but I do want to keep all of them both offline on the PC but also in my large cloud storage... that isn't google. Thanks in advance, Ian
Worked a treat - for some reason I thought Handbrake was just for Macs but that was the last time I used it about six years ago... completely forgot about it.
While you've probably sorted it completely, you might be better off using Avidemux of maybe MKVtoolnix depending on the codec used. If it's something that can just be dumped in a .mp4 of .mkv then you can just strip the video/audio out of the files using those and dump it into the container of your choice (probably mp4 would be better, so avidemux). If you use handbrake, it will transcode it as, AFAIK, handbrake doesn't have a copy feature. So there's potential to reduce the quality of the file. Though I think handbrake is easier to use, not that either of the other two are particularly hard to use, but I'm unsure of their batch capabilities. As for playing it on, AFAIK, VLC/MPC-BE/MPV player should all be able to play it without the HEVC codec installed.
Which is what was needed: transcoding from HEVC (won't play on Ian's devices without additional software) to MPEG-4/H.264/whatever (will play on Ian's devices without additional software.)
Yea, I got thrown by the extension bit, I though Ian might be getting mixed up between container/codec but having re-read it there's no way itunes wouldn't be able to play a .mov unless the codec issue. Surprised itunes doesn't do hevc decoding, I assume they'd need to pay to be able to add that to itunes? Or do apple devices record in something else (h264)?
I was in the same spot a while back, moving old family videos from Google Photos and basically had a ton of .mov files that didn’t want to behave on Windows. Handbrake worked fine for most stuff, but for big batches I actually liked having a more visual editor because sometimes I wanted to trim or fix orientation glitches too, not just convert. The all-in-one options on Windows save me so much time, especially when I just want mp4 for easy playback.A while ago, I came across this https://www.screencapture.com/blog/how-to-invert-colors-on-a-picture/ when looking for alternatives to Handbrake and Avidemux. Their tools are beginner-friendly but still pretty versatile if you need more than just simple conversion.
