How do I upscale an iOS App Preview video to 1080 x 1920? [closed]

Question

I just captured a video of my new app running on an iPhone 6 using QuickTime Player and a Lightning cable. Afterwards I created an App Preview project in iMovie, exported it and could successfully upload it to iTunes Connect.

Apple requires developers to upload App Previews in different resolutions dependent on screen size, namely:

• iPhone 5(S): 1080 x 1920 or 640 x 1136
• iPhone 6: 750 x 1334 (what I have)
• iPhone 6+: 1080 x 1920

Obviously, 1080 x 1920 is killing two birds with one stone. I know that upscaling isn't the perfect solution, but it's meeting my needs. Since I don't own a 6+, another recording session won't do the trick.

Unfortunately, iTunes Connect is extremely picky about what to accept. Here's what I tried, to no avail:

• Handbrake, iMovie, QuickTime do not support upscaling
• MPEG Streamclip
• ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -acodec copy -vf scale=1080:1920 output.mp4

Strangely enough, iTunes Connect keeps complaining about the wrong resolution when I try to upload the output.mp4 of ffmpeg.

Comedian

Answer 1

Finally, ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -acodec copy -crf 12 -vf scale=1080:1920,setsar=1:1 output.mp4 did the trick!

Turns out that ffmpeg tries to be smart about aspect ratio, so that the actual size is 1079x1920 with an aspect ratio of 2000:2001.

• setsar=1:1 forces an aspect ratio of 1:1 and hence, the right resolution
• -crf 12 as desired quality roughly results in the same file size as the original file created by iMovie, so it should be a safe bet bit rate-wise

Comedian

Thank you. For people with low budget (with no Final Cut) this is the solution to get all App Previews Videos. – Xuanxunit

Thanks for this - setsar=1:1 also is needed to go from 1920 x 1080 down to 1334 x 750. Without it, the video actually ends up being 1333 x 750. For anyone who wants the full command: ffmpeg -i INPUT.mov -vf "scale=1334:750,setsar=1:1" OUTPUT.mov – Candiecandied

Just a side point: you're forcing the pixel aspect ratio to be 1:1. Or, forcing "square pixels", as various adobe products would say. Completely separate from the aspect ratio of the video, which in this case would be 9:16. – Aragats

Thank you! I also needed to use -pix_fmt yuv420p, because app store didnt even recognise the output without it. Full command: ffmpeg -i trailer.mov -acodec copy -crf 12 -vf scale=1080:1920,setsar=1:1 -pix_fmt yuv420p output.mov – Scarf

Answer 2

I used Video resize https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/video-resize/id1073693347?mt=12 from the Mac App Store to resize the video. Quickly did the work but the resolution was off. Started a new App Preview in iMovie, Imported the newly resized video, trimmed it down to about 1 second, added the original video I had resized, trimmed clip video to 30secs, Share -> App Preview -> video size now at 1080x1920. Crossing fingers it will be accepted

Bicentenary

Answer 3

For some reason, one of the videos I recorded from my iPhone 6 using Quicktime, forces iMovie to export in 1080x1920. I've no idea why this one video causes the project to export at this resolution. It's 750x1334 just like all my other videos. Adding it to the start of the project, will let me export at this max res, which I can then downscale to the other sizes.

Robertroberta

I've heard that the App Preview project in iMovie will assume the resolution of the first clip you import. You might want to try creating a new App Preview project and adding a clip of the size you want before anything else. – Demitria

Top tip about creating the project with an image of the size needed - then copy and paste the existing project across – Lindseylindsley

Answer 4

use shortcut app

https://www.fosshub.com/Shotcut.html?dwl=shotcut-macos-signed-191020.dmg

its open source, free and easy to use

just drag drop your preview video, export, choose your desired resolution and aspect ration

for iPhone X and above resolution for app preview video is 886 X 1920 for portrait 1920 X 886 for landscape

good luck

Taxation

Answer 5

I found a simple solution. Export preview size is automatically decided by video ratio. I found a rule, iMovie decide export ratio by Video Aspect Ratio.

So, if you crop your ratio before export, then iMovie export by the your ratio.

Crossbones

Answer 6

lets say I want to make an app preview with 1920 × 886px

In iMovie, file -> App preview, drag a picture with the 1920 × 886px as the first item in timeline, then drag the video into the timeline. iMovie automatically changes the resolution of the content to the resolution of the first item in timeline. now the video resolution has changed automatically. now remove the picture and export (Share button on right side top -> App preview (App preview option will only show if the project was made as File -> App preview)). The exported video will be 1920 × 886px. you can resize any video in this way to any size. just use a dummy picture to let iMovie do the magic for you

Propend