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Using the Compressor App to make and save thumbnails.

Hi,


I have a lot of .mpg4/.h264 videos that I want to change the thumbnail/Poster frames. I have come across two ways of changing the thumbnails but neither of them actually save it. I want to change the thumbnails and have them appear with the new thumbnail on my IPad. I cannot figure this out for the life of me. Below is what I have tried:


1) Using the Photos app...

  • Open the video in Photos
  • Select Edit
  • Move in timeline to the desired frame
  • Select Image -> Make Poster Frame
  • Select Done


Everything looks great within Photos, but when I transfer them to my Ipad I lose all the thumbnails.....I've tried exporting them from Photos into a new folder and I still lose the thumbnails. I have tried transferring them both using AirDrop and with the Finder Window (via USB-C cable). They always go back to the default first frame.


2) Using Quicktime...

  • Open the video in Quicktime
  • Move in timeline to the desired frame
  • Press Command + C (Copy)
  • Close Quicktime
  • Press Command + I (Info) on the video you want to change the Poster frame.
  • In the upper left corner select the Q icon and press Command + V (Paste)
  • Close the Info window.


I am wondering if using Compressor there might be a way to permanantly change the Poster frame? I want it to show the correct frame no matter which device or app that I use.


I also don't want to change any of the settings (frame rate/Compression/ File type). I basically want to change the thumbnail / Poser Frame and not alter the video whatsoever....


Any thoughts would be helpful!! Thanks in advance!!

iPad Pro (M4, 2024)

Posted on Aug 2, 2024 9:01 AM

Reply
4 replies

Aug 3, 2024 8:59 AM in response to Gary Goldblum

iPadOS Photos does not seem to support custom poster frames and it seems to depend on the receiving app how it reads that.


I made a poster frame in Compressor.app 4.8 and exported as .m4v. It is stored in ItemList:CoverArt. macOS Sonoma 14.6 Finder and Photos.app import dialog display it but when imported to macOS Photos library it is ignored. Then I used AirDrop to transfer the movie to iPadOS 17.6 but only the default poster frame from the very beginning of the movies is displayed in iPadOS Photos.


Also other options to make a poster frame behave the same:


Thumbnail in Photos? - How to get it to w… - Apple Community



Using the Compressor App to make and save thumbnails.

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