VoiceThread allows you to have conversations around almost any type of file: images, videos, documents, and presentations; but it is a big wild world of technological standards out there and so there will be many times when you run into a file that just doesn't work the way you expect it to. Here is a list of our currently supported file types, and advice on what to do when one of them doesn't seem to work.

First, always make sure that you are using the latest version of Adobe's Flash plugin which you can download here

Here are some basics that apply to all the files you might want to upload:

• Size. No single file can be larger than 25MB with a Free account, or 100MB with Pro and Educator accounts. If your presentation or video is larger than that, simply break it up into smaller files.

• Originals. If you have a Pro or Educator account we will save and store your original file (excluding videos) so that you can allow others to download the original file. If the owner of the thread allows it, you can just right or control-click on any page within a VoiceThread to download the original document.

• import from a link, if you enter the exact url of a file you can import it directly, but the link must be absolutely correct. Note that most 'links' to videos online do not point directly to the video file and so won't work. But do have the accurate file location of a video it should work.

• Files you definitely can't upload, .zip .swf. .html .txt

Comments
Anyone with a paying account can upload an audio file as a comment. Currently we can accept and convert MP3 and WAV files.

Images
JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, are all acceptable image types that you can upload into a VoiceThread. Because a VoiceThread can zoom in and out on images and documents, we recommend your images be at least 1280x960 (which a 2mp or higher camera can produce) so that when you zoom in on an image it appears crisp and detailed. We also except a number of less common image formats, including vector graphics like SVG -- just try uploading your content and see if it works.

Video
It seems like we should have a list of all the video file types we accept but it get a little complicated. There are a number of 'container' formats like QuickTime, WMV, and AVI, that are like an envelope containing the video; i.e. a QuickTime movie can be encoded by close to 40 different codecs. We can convert the vast majority of them but not all, so I can't say we can accept 'all' QuickTime, wmv, or avi videos, but we do accept most. Unfortunately a little trial an error is the only way to know for sure; we're constantly adding to the list of file types we support.

Having said that, I can definitely recommend the best formats, both for us to convert and to attain the highest quality possible. Here are the two favorites:

FLV: This is native Flash video file type. When you upload an flv video we don't convert it at all. What you saw before you uploaded it is what you'll get. If you're a bit savvy with video, you can export from QuickTime Pro to flv, and you can adjust the settings to get the best quality. Here are the best settings: Resize the image to 600 X 450 pixels, set the frame rate at around 15 fps, choose medium quality, and set the frequency of keyframes to that of the frame rate, i.e. if you set the frame rate to 15fps, then create a keyframe every 15 frames. If the intention of the video is to allow video doodling, than this is really important, you can even make the key frames more frequent. Our video player can only stop on key frames when pausing to allow doodling, so if they are very infrequent it will appear to jump ahead.

H.264: This is the future of video codecs in Flash. It is the highest quality Flash codec and will soon replace flv. So if you want to 'future proof' your videos I suggest using this codec to encode your videos. The same settings as before apply to get the best results, 600 X450 pixels, 15fps, a key frame every 15 frames.

You'll almost always get best results if you can go directly from the source to one of the options above, but it you have to you can use a web service like http://zamzar.com or similar, to convert the file to one that we can use in a VoiceThread.

Documents
DOC, DOCX, PDF, ODT, XLS, XLSX, ODS are all supported.

If you are adding the document to the VoiceThread in order to provide additional printable materials to your participants, make sure to tell them how to download and print them(right or control-click anywhere on the document within the VoiceThread and select 'Download original') If a user right-clicks on page 5 of 30 in a document we'll allow them to download the entire original document that it was a part of. It's a very powerful way of distributing large presentations and documents, but if you don't tell them in your comment how to do this it's unlikely they'll figure it out on their own.

If you're putting a document within your VoiceThread because you want to have a discussion about the text within it then we suggest changing the format to 'Landscape' mode(wider and shorter) and making your Text much bigger. You should also consider changing the default playback option to 'Open in Full Screen'. This will make it much more accessible and readable to your average participant.

If you're unsatisfied with VoiceThread's conversion of your document, the most reliable format to use is PDF. The PDF format was designed for document portability and precise reproduction, so it's the best way to get exactly what you want.

Presentations
PPT, PPTX, ODP, and PDF are all supported presentation file types. When you upload a Presentation file we will store the original(if you have a Pro or Educator account) and then break it up into individual pages within the VoiceThread. All animations and transitions will be lost, and SWF files are not supported at this time. If you experience any formatting issues(strange fonts or layout etc.) after you've uploaded the presentation you should attempt to convert the original presentation to a PDF and then try again.

While a VoiceThread allows you to have a conversation about almost any type of media, there are many times when a file simply won't work because of an uncommon or undocumented incompatibility with some element within the file. If you cannot convert the file to a format that VoiceThread will accept, send us a note via the contact form and we'll see if we can help.

Also, if you are having consistent trouble uploading all kinds of files, then there is a good chance that you are on an unreliable network because of poor bandwidth or the network in not configured properly. Here is a link to a document that you can send on to your local network administrator that will help solve this kind of uploading trouble. Network and Firewall settings

Hi Mister Barker,

I believe that Jing only saves videos in the .swf file format which we don't support yet, but that Jing Pro($15 yr) does allow you to save the videos in MPEG-4 format which we do support. If you do get Jing Pro and use these videos in a VoiceThread make sure to always capture your screen in a 4:3 ratio, e.g. 800 X 600 or even better, 600 X 450 which is the default size of a VoiceThread.

Thanks,

I get a blank screen with and x on the top right hand corner

How can I upload an mp3 file to create a voicemail using the mp3 file?

Andrea -
The video file type that an Exported VoiceThread is created into is a .mov file, which an updated version of QuickTime will play. You can download this at the following site: http://www.apple.com/quicktime/

I'm having trouble uploading a PowerPoint presentation too. Nothing is happening at all when I go through the Create/Upload steps. I'm using Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 on Windows Vista. Does anyone know if I need to do anything special to get the VoiceThread upload to work? Thanks!

I have tried to upload 4 different PDF's - all small sizes...none of them upload.
Very frustrating.

HI Karla,

Please do send the file/s you are trying to upload so that we can investigate--you can do this by using the "contact" link at the bottom of the page. :-)

Thanks! Katie

Hi Steven,

Our url importer only works on videos if the link is to the exact location of the file and this is not the case with youtube videos. So the url method of importing won't work directly. You can however use one of the many services/applications that allow you to download a youtube video and then upload it into a VT. Quite a few people are doing that right now. If the tool give you the choice of file type, make sure to choose .flv

Thanks,

Hi Randy,

Please attach the document to an email to info@voicethread.com (or click Contact below) so that we can test. :-)

Thanks! Katie

My powerpoint file is not working when I try to upload it. It is in pdf form and in word 2007. What can I do?

I've been trying to upload .wmv files created in Photostory. I've successfully done this many times. This week I created 6 photostories, all using the exact same settings. I successfully uploaded the first 5 to VoiceThread. The 6th file gives me the message that VT can't process that file type. It is not even the biggest of the files I created. I contacted VT via Twitter several weeks ago on this same issue. I never know if our files will upload or not. Please help! We're currently setting up classroom accounts for many teachers in the district and I need to be able to tell them if they can continue to use Photostory or not. Thanks!