How to Convert Animation File Formats

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There are quite a number of different animation file formats in use. This page explains which software to use for some of the most common conversions. Links to the software mentioned can also be found in the software list on the previous page.

MainActor from http://www.mainconcept.com can convert MPEG, MPEG2, AVI, GIF, and QuickTime animations from one format to another. This is a full featured video and animation editor, that is available for both Windows and Linux. It is also a large download (~15MB) and not freeware. If you do not have MainActor you can convert animations from one format to another using one of the following options:

• AVI to MPEG2: You can use bbMPEG to do this.


• AVI to GIF: You can use GIF Construction Set Professional to do this. Alternatively, you can use AnimationShop 2 to do this.


• GIF to AVI: You can use GIF Construction Set Professional to do this. Make sure that the File|Settings|Files|AVI-Quality-Factor is set to 8500 instead of to the default value of 7500, which leads to a lower image quality. Read in the GIF animation. Save it as AVI using the File|Movie|Gif-to-Movie command. Test the AVI file by playing it with the Windows media player. If your GIF animation was created with ImageMagick, color flickering may occur in the AVI file. If this happens you need to first recreate your GIF animation with the GIF Construction Set. To do this, read in the GIF animation; select all blocks/images; save the individual images to the harddisk using the Block|Extract command; recreate the GIF animation using the File|Animation-Wizard command; and save it as an AVI file using the File|Movie|Gif-to-Movie command. Alternatively, you can use AnimationShop 2 to do this.


• GIF to AVI: Dinesh Gera provided the following tip for conversion of GIF animations that were created under Unix by ImageMagick to AVI format: "Download the follwing two files from The Converter's Paradise: fmp141.zip (an AVI converter) and gifsetup.exe. If you created an animated GIF using Unix based programs then read it first through 'gifsetup.exe' and save it under the same .gif extension. Next convert it with 'fmp141'. With that program you can control the speed of the animation and enlarge or shrink the size of frame, etc."


• MPEG to AVI: MainActor can do this. Another way is to play the MPEG movie with the Windows Media Player while simultaneously using HyperCam to record the movie to AVI.


• QuickTime to AVI: You can use the full blown commercial version of Apple's QuickTime to do this.


• QuickTime to GIF: Use Quicktime Pro from Apple or The 'Smart Dubbing' product from 3D Launcher.

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