Video Encoding for Storyline 360

Jan 04, 2019

I am trying to find out what the video encoding parameters are for Storyline 360.

We've noticed that Storyline is a little particular. Sometimes files that appear to be encoded exactly the same way as previous ones we've used will not allow us to turn Automatic compression off - the option is grayed out. When that happens we have to run the video through Handbrake to get the setting to work - a time-consuming extra step.

We are playing with encoding settings to try to figure it out but any light you can shine would be appreciated.

Also, is Storyline able to accept video files using h.265 encoding yet?

27 Replies
Alyssa Gomez

Hi Laura!

Turning off video compression is only available for MP4 videos created with baseline, main, or high profiles. All other video files will be compressed when published.

If the "None" compression setting isn't working correctly on one of your video files, please send it to our Support team here! They can take a closer look and give you more insight into the encoding process. 

Laura Winzen

Hi!

I tried to attach one of the mp4 files but they are too big for our email system. Do you have a place where I can upload a file?

The mp4s are created with standard encoding but will not allow us to select to turn off automatic compression when pulled into Storyline 360. I've attached screen shots of the settings in Premiere that we've used for years. In the past, we were able to turn off compression but something changed about 6 months ago that won't allow it.

Please let us know if we should set something differently in Premiere.

Thanks!

Laura

[AAFP

Katie Riggio

Hi, Laura. Thanks for your follow-up!

It looks like you may have replied via email in which the screenshots did not come through. Have no fear, as you can share the .MP4 file along with the setting information with our Support Engineers via this private upload link: http://www.articulatecase.com/

Be sure to share the case number in this discussion so we can follow along to share any additional insight here! 

Beverly Stokes

No I’m not having any trouble with my videos. I wanted to put a watermark on my videos as I am creating my modules for an online course.

I read that you could do it in Storyline but I work on a Mac and I use Rise.

How do I put a watermark on my videos in Rise????

Thanks

Beverly

Anthony Karcz

Hi Beverly! At this time, there isn't a way to add a watermark to a video from within Rise 360. Since video blocks import your already created video content, you would need to insert the watermark before you imported it into the tool. 

If you have time to log a feature request and tell us more about how this could help you, that would be super helpful!

In the meantime, let me know if there’s anything else I can help you with.

Beverly Stokes

Too late to do it now as all my videos have been uploaded.

On another note: I am thinking of using https://learning-templates.com
as my Learning Management System that works with all Articulate Courses including Rise.
Do you know about it and if it works?

It would help if both these items were posted for new Articulate users.

Thanks

Beverly

Think Up Consulting

I'm having some really weird issues going on with the turning off SL's compression. 

When replacing videos using "replace video", I'm being forced to compress. The videos we are replacing were not compressed originally, so it's not assuming this. The new videos are also exported using the right preset.

What's weird, is if i put the videos in a totally blank presentation, they don't require compression. Seems like a bug. Check out the screenshots. This is the same video file.

 

 

Leslie McKerchie

Hi Alex,

Thanks for reaching out and sharing your findings and troubleshooting.

We do have an open issue specific to the compression field becoming disabled when replacing a video, so I've added this conversation to the report.

I wanted to share some information on how we define bugs and how we tackle them when they occur.

Doug  Cooper

Thank you for the update.  I figured out a work around by copying the current module into a new one.  Deleted the video and inserted the MP4 into the copied slide.  The compression field was not disabled, then copied that and pasted it into the original module with no issues.  

Will do that process until the replacing a video option is fixed.   

Melissa Blake

Hello all,

Has there been an update on this?

I tried Doug's workaround but it still enabled compression upon pasting the scene back into the original storyline file.

My workaround was actually to re-encode the file with a new name, as it seemed to recognize the original video file and applied automatic compressed by default, without me being able to change it.

For reference my video file is a 5.5s 4.5MB MP4 file encoded in H264 at 20mbps. Used AME.

A note, even if I renamed the original file (v1.1) in file explorer to 'v1.2' or 'v1.3' it still seemed to force the automatic compressed. Only a brand new file solved it, using the name v1.3.

Katie Riggio

Greetings, Wout!

No update as of yet, but our team still has eyes on this behavior. I'm going to add your experience to our report. If anything changes, we'll let you know!

In the meantime, we're happy to have a closer look at the quality. If you're able to share the .story file, please use this private upload link. We'll delete it after troubleshooting!

Mark Marino

I ran into this SL bug today... tried up update an MP4 video with exact settings as the MP4 it was replacing and SL decided to disable the Compression: None option.  This is a long-standing and really annoying bug that I can remember running into since at least SL2 days.  

The only way I could get around it was this:

  1. delete existing MP4 videos from the Storyline project
  2. save the Storyline project under a new name
  3. close Storyline
  4. rename the video files to something different than the names they were before
  5. reopen Storyline
  6. add the videos again and voila! the video compression dropdown is magically available again
  7. fix timing/actions/layering and anything else that got messed up by deleting the videos
  8. crack a cold one (optional)

Usually there is some way to slap Storyline back in to recognizing that the MP4 file is one of the profiles that allow compression to be turned off, but it's still a long-standing bug that needs to be squashed.  

Add me to the list of people who wants to see this fixed, please!