subject: How to Edit a Flip Video File [print this page] Flip Video cameras are small devices that are really taking video cameras into the mainstream. They are small, affordable, and extremely easy to use. And yet the quality of video they produce is remarkable. With the arrival of the Flip Video, video capture has come into the hands of the masses. (Won't YouTube be thrilled?) While it is true that one of the advantages of a Flip Video is the ease of use, unfortunately this can also be fairly limiting as far as features. The software that comes built into the camera does allow for super easy uploading to common video sites like YouTube and Facebook. And it even has some basic editing features, such as adding a title page and a credits page. But what if you want to clean up your video more than what the built in software (called FlipShare) allows? You are forced to go with third-party software. This does NOT, however, necessarily mean buying an expensive software suite. In fact, there are some phenomenal pieces of software that are open source, or free, for users. For example, Windows Movie Maker comes built in to all Windows operating systems. Mac has a similar program that is, by default, installed with the platform. Users can import the videos that were made with the Flip Video camera, and then cut, splice, create transitions, and add special effects. To change the format of file (MP4, AVI, MPEG-2, WMV, MOV, etc.), there are a host of free video converters available, such as the one from koyotesoft.com. This allows you to choose the output size, frame rate and quality of the video from one file type to another. You may need to change the format from Flip's default (MP4) to another kind in order for the free video editors like Windows Movie Maker to work. Once your file is in a correct format, import it to your editing software, make your changes, then 'publish' the video in a format that is compatible with what you want to do. For example, if you want to upload to YouTube, you can use a WMV format (or even FLV). Again, if the editing software does not produce that type, use a standard output like AVI.
