Video publishing video has been encoding for over 12 hours!
Jan 31, 2018
Hi
I am trying to publish my Storyline video file (it's an 8 slide simulation video lasting approximately 3 minutes).
Yesterday it took 8 hours and was still 'encoding video' so even though it was making progress and not frozen, I stopped it thinking there's no way it could take that long and it was an error. After reading some posts, I tried to turn off the auto compression but this is grayed out set to 'automatic'. Trouble shooting advice states when its grayed out, it's because it was created on a different profile. My screen simulations and voice recordings were both created in Storyline so no idea what it means by created in a different profile.
I started trying to publish my video again last night and so far it's been running for about 12 hours and it is still 'encoding.
Has anyone experienced this and how do I fix it?
23 Replies
Thanks so much for reaching out here, Renata!
I'm sorry to hear that your Storyline video file is taking a while to publish. If you haven't already, I recommend closing down other open programs and ensure you're publishing to your local drive.
I also see that you have a case started with my colleague, Renato, which is a perfect move! He is in the process of reviewing your video file, and will be in touch with his findings and suggestions soon. We'll follow along, too!
Hi Renata (and those who are subscribed to this thread) 👋
It looks like Renato was able to find the root of this issue – in which the publishing error occurred when the navigation was set to Follow Slide Numbering, but the order of the slides was not sequential like it was in the Storyline file. The file successfully published when Follow Next Actions was selected.
I'm glad that you were able to resolve this issue, Renata – we'll be here if you need anything else!
Hi there, I've got a similar issue. Made multiple attempts to publish and SL never seems to complete the task. I've attached the file. Please work some magic on this.
Hi Lowell
The issue with mine was that there was an issue with the Slide Numbering so it kept flicking between two slides (no idea why there was an issue though)! When I changed it to publish using 'Next Actions' this fixed it. Hope this helps :)
Hi Lowell,
I'm taking a look at your file, but it would be helpful to know a few more things!
Did you test this using the latest update of Storyline 360, Update 19?
Also, when you were publishing did you ever see it finish or you noted it was taking a while and so you canceled it?
Depending on what is in a file (i.e. lots of media, interactive elements, animations, etc.) it can take a while to publish a video that may result in a pretty short video.
Let me know, and I'll keep you posted on the results of my test!
I tried publishing both before AND after updating to 19.
I never saw the file finish publishing. It went close to 2 hours and would hang-up on the final 2 or three seconds of the total file. The file contains embedded video, step-by-step video, and screen recordings. It also has audio throughout.
Very much appreciate your investigation.
Hi Lowell,
Thanks for the added info. I also tested it in Update 19, and looked at removing the extra slide masters and screen recordings that weren't in use to see if that would help. It still was taking a really long time to publish to video, and I got about 3/4 of the way there by the end of yesterday and then my computer went to sleep. The length of publishing could take a while, depending on the overall items in the course, but I'd like to have my team take a better look at this example so I opened a case for you.
They'll be in touch via email soon.
Awesome! Thanks for taking those extra steps and sharing with your team. I look forward to your communication.
Happy to report SL support staff went the extra mile and not only identified the issue, but provided the clean (non-corrupted) file. Life returns to normal!
So happy to hear that Lowell, and I'm glad we had our Support Engineers take a look.
What was the problem? How did they resolve the issue?
Hello, Sade! I replied to your other post here, so we can continue our conversation there if you'd like!
i am also having the same issue. i have done two other ones today with no problems. the last one has taken hours and its stuck on encoding. i have read the posts and tried everything recommended but nothing seems to help. Can you assist?
Hi Michael!
So sorry to hear that the project is stuck on the encoding message.
Are you comfortable with sharing the .story with us? You can use this secure upload link. We can publish it using Storyline 360 Update 42 and let you know what happens!
Hi all,
I am having the same issue. I am using Storyline 360 and it is freezing at Preparing to encode video...
Hi Sara and welcome to E-Learning Heroes 😊
Thanks for sharing that you are experiencing an issue when publishing to video. I see that you were able to contact our support team as well and you are working directly with Darwin.
missed the final outcome of this important trail
is that it?
Help with Update 19 - what is that?
Hi Jen,
I didn't actually get a straight answer of why it didn't work for us, however, they are reporting a bug for us. We never got the video to publish and it ran over the weekend. They were able to publish it in an hour and I requested they send me the published video. That was the only way I was able to get the published video.
Best of luck to you,
Sara
Thank you Sara. You sent the video to them! I will try that. I tried lots of different options to burn the story into a video and none of them worked.
Hi Jen,
Thanks for coming back with an update and tip, Sara!
Like Sara shared, we have an open bug in Storyline where courses with screen recordings published for video can take some time to complete.
We're happy to verify whether this bug is affecting your file or if something else is causing the problem. You can use this private upload link:
I'm excited to share that we released another update for Storyline 360 (Build 3.52.25156.0) today, which included a fix for the bug where projects with screen recordings took an exceedingly long time to publish as a video file.
Update Storyline 360 in your Articulate 360 desktop app to take advantage of the newest fixes and features.
If you have any questions, you can reach our team in this discussion or in a support case.
Thanks so much for keeping these older threads handy! I was having the same issue of trying to publish from Storyline to MP4 video, and it was hanging at "encoding," and kept going back to the starting slide. Turns out it was confused by the trigger to go back to slide 1 if a user clicks the forward arrow in the last slide. I deleted that trigger, and it published smoothly and quickly!
Changing all your slides to "Slide Advances: Automatically" creates a normal encoding process that we'd expect.
