17 replies to this topic

[superfly360]

i'm trying to upload a windows movie maker video but when i try to upload it it says an unknown error has occured. i read the help topics on windows movie maker and it tells me why its not uploading and tells me to add .avi or something like that. since i'm not really that good with computers the only thing i could think to do is add .avi at the end of the name of the video. this didn't help.
can anyone help me?

[rct_noob]

Change the file extension name to .flv. That's the format YouTube uses, so it makes sense to change it to that format. Also, use the new beta uploader, it's more convenient, has more features and uploads videos faster.

[superfly360]

how do i do that?

[rct_noob]

Right click on the icon, click rename, and change the .avi to .flv.

[superfly360]

ok i did that and it says that the upload was a success but when i go to my videos it says "failed (unable to convert video file)"

[rct_noob]

Hmm, never had that error before. Someone on here should know.

[Sambo]

Just changing the three letter file extension does not convert the file format from one to another. You need a program that produces an actual Flash Video output or a standard .AVI format. Windows Movie Maker (unless new versions have become available) only saves as a Windows Media Video - a .WMV format that only Microsoft uses.

If you insist on using Windows Movie Maker (which is to video what MSPaint is to photography ) and not getting a real video editing program, then you need to obtain a video conversion utility that converts .WMV to a format that is usable outside the Windows platform.

[rct_noob]

Search "Free FLV Converter" on Google. There's tons out there that work.

Sambo: When I uploaded a video with the file extension name .avi, it said "Unknown Error", but when I changed the extension to .flv, the upload worked.

[Sambo]

Sambo: When I uploaded a video with the file extension name .avi, it said "Unknown Error", but when I changed the extension to .flv, the upload worked.

When you renamed the extension of your .avi file it didn't make it a Flash Video file. YouTube recognized the avi regardless of the extension and converted (the file info is in the header). The first attempt with the AVI just had an error - it happens. Second time you were lucky. Doubtful renaming the extension had much to do with it.

YouTube doesn't handle Windows Media Video files well - if at all.

[rct_noob]

Well, I did do that for two other videos, and they worked.

Edited by rct_noob, 01 February 2009 - 04:49 PM.