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I have a nicely exquisite slo-mo video. I would like it to export to my computer.

Simply copying the file by plugging into the USB cable loses all the slo-mo edits. Doing an export via Share by Email seems to lose the quality (it compresses it).

I don't want to export it to YouTube, Facebook or anything like that.

How can I get it to my computer so that I can email it to my friends?

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4
  • What kind of computer do you have?
    – dcgoss
    Commented Apr 23, 2014 at 18:36
  • @dcgoss I have both PC and Mac.
    – AngryHacker
    Commented Apr 23, 2014 at 22:02
  • You should be able to change FPS tag on the file from 120 or whatever it is to 30 or whatever you want. Then any application would play it back in slow motion. Unfortunately, I haven't found a tool to do this. I tried "Lossless Frame Rate Converter", and it doesn't even interpret the original file's frame rate correctly. Interestingly, the QT movie inspector shows the FPS from my iPhone 6 as 190.25.
    – Oscar
    Commented Apr 5, 2015 at 6:32
  • Do you even see your slo-mo videos when connecting your iPhone to a PC? I don't see the slo-mo videos in Windows Explorer, I only see 2 AAE files in place of each one.
    – pacoverflow
    Commented Mar 5, 2017 at 9:47

9 Answers 9

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Open iMovie, load your slow mo video in a project, no need for filters or text etc.

Now go to your export screen, select the upload button. Scroll down and select: "keep video" or "Save file". ( I have a dutch language phone so I'm not sure what the English text will be). Save in 720p.

When you connect your phone to the computer you can see it as an extra drive "Internal storage". Select it, go into the DCIM folder and select the subfolder. Mine is called: "947ugfff" but anyway it is not the folder where your foto's and vids are but the folder where the saved videos from iMovie go.

Drag and drop and you're done!

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14

The reason importing it directly onto your computer doesn't appear to work is due to the way the iPhone plays back slomo videos.

The video itself isn't shot in "slomo", so to speak. Rather, it's shot at 120 frames per second, a typically higher frame rate than normal video recording.

This is significant because if you were to playback that video at 30 fps, the videos would appear to be playing in smooth slow motion because there is 4 times the frames to display. So, when you playback a video the iPhone is converting the selected section of the 120fps video into 30fps, giving it the slow motion effect - the whole video COULD be watched at a normal speed with no problem. When you import the file onto your computer, it is just a 120fps video file - it doesn't know when or where to convert it to 30fps, which is why it appears as if it "lost" the slomo when really it's playing in its native 120fps.

You can easily restore that slomo effect with almost any video editing software by slowing down the video (to 30fps, or any other speed for that matter) , just as your iPhone would do - you just have to do it manually (which could be better in some cases).

Alternatively, you should be able to imessage your video from your phone to your Mac without any considerable quality loss.

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6
  • I tried both iMessaging it and AirDropping it but there’s a significant loss of quality in both.
    – Siniša Šašić
    Commented Jan 25, 2015 at 11:50
  • 3
    @SinišaŠašić This is unlikely. I know for certain that AirDrop exports in original quality - it is likely the loss of quality you are seeing is a change in screen quality/size by switching devices.
    – dcgoss
    Commented Feb 16, 2015 at 22:09
  • @dcgoss This is not true (or no longer is true.) AirDropping slow mo video to Mac renders the video to 30fps.
    – bejado
    Commented Oct 13, 2017 at 22:37
  • 1
    ffmpeg.org is the tool to use and there's no Apple-specific tricks. I had this same issue, but the slowmo video was imported from Android (to MacOS/iMovie). Here's the 2 commands I used to change the frame rate from 240 to 24. ffmpeg -y -i input.mp4 -c copy -f h264 tmp.h264 ffmpeg -y -r 24 -i tmp.h264 -c copy ouput.mp4
    – Chris Wolf
    Commented Nov 30, 2019 at 1:31
  • I got the above ffmpeg info from: stackoverflow.com/questions/45462731/…
    – Chris Wolf
    Commented Nov 30, 2019 at 1:38
5

Quicktime Player can convert iPhone/iOS slo-mo movies to a 'regular' movie that plays everywhere:

  1. Open slow motion video in QuickTime Player,
  2. Optionally trim the clip or edit the slo-mo duration,
  3. File -> Export as..., and choose setting and location.
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1
  • This is the best answer here (as long as you've got a Mac). Transfer the original file using Image Capture, then process in Quicktime.
    – Chris
    Commented Sep 11, 2021 at 15:06
4

Finally I found the best solution for me. Tried to import via Final Cut X but I am not sure it makes sense. Next I imported slow motion video from my iPhone via USB cable and opened Preview app that comes with a Mac and imported from here! Totally worked and I got .mov files out that I could open in quicktime and click cmd i and it showed 120 frames per second.

Option that didn't work: 1. sending via airdrop from photos app on iPhone to Mac - the framerate is changed to around 40-60fps. 2. uploading the video to dropbox or pcloud changes the framerate to 30 fps. 3. exporting video from Photos on Mac mini and saving them to iCloud Drive and then downloading them on my Mac Pro to edit also changes the framerate in the file...!?

Kind regards Mark Barner

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2

I found a simple &fast way to get your Slow-Motion videos onto your computer. This method is also without applying an effect, but by simply adding a blank text.

Use the iMovie in app editor, then click add text, get rid of the sample text and then save. The video is saved now and can be easily shared, however when transferring to the computer it is still playing back at 120fps (or 240fps for iPhone 6).

So far, I only found one simple method that will allow you to transfer the slow motion video with it being 30fps.

Download the app iFile free. Tap the bottom right arrow to import a video from your Camera roll into the app. The video will be imported. Now you just have to connect your iPhone to iTunes, go to the app section, and select iFile Free and drag the video to the desktop.

That's it, you have your slow-motion video with no compression in 720p.

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2
  • After installing iFile free app. nothing shows up under File > Devices… in iTunes 12 on Yosemite (even after sync). Could you please explain where exactly this is?
    – Siniša Šašić
    Commented Jan 25, 2015 at 12:56
  • Also, after importing a slo mo video from your camera roll to the iFile free it compresses the video making it a regular one. It ain’t working, even after transferring the video via wifi (another option of iFree).
    – Siniša Šašić
    Commented Jan 25, 2015 at 13:02
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I used the iPhone's imovie app to just add a simple filter, then it will allow you to export the video while keeping the slow motion intact. I'd suggest adding a filter or even Just trimming a small bit or something so iMovie allows you to export it (doesn't give you the option unless you make some sort of edit). Voila!

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1
  • It’s exported into the regular videos folder but then it’s gone from the slo mo videos folder. After transferring it via Dropbox auto transfer of photos to Mac it’s just a regular video, unfortunatley… Please clarify.
    – Siniša Šašić
    Commented Jan 25, 2015 at 12:57
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Quick and dirty solution that can be done entirely on iPhone that just worked for me: Do a screen recording as you watch the video on your phone, make sure to tap away the control bars and have audio on during your 3 second countdown (may take you a couple tries to get this right), naturally it will capture the slow-motion, now upload the screen recording video to YouTube or e-mail to your friends.

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1

This is for video captured at 240 FPS in slow-mo:

If you are just looking to play the video with mpv, use the following command:

mpv --vf 'lavfi=[setpts=6*PTS]' --af 'atempo=0.66667,atempo=0.5,atempo=0.5' filename.MOV

The audio may sound strange this way but the multiple atempo filters are required to reach 44100 Hz / 6 (7350 Hz), without affecting pitch. If you don't mind affecting pitch, use --af asetrate=7350.

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0

You need to copy the video to your pc and then open it in after effects or premiere. The frame rate will drop to 99fps unfortunately as both programs cannot accept higher fps. Then use twixtor plugin to make your movie slow motion

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