How To Convert Almost Any Video To Play On Your iPhone (Windows)

This step by step guide will show you how to convert almost any type of video file into one that you can play on your iPhone or iPad – using completely free Windows software.

Background

It’s pretty crazy how many video encoders and converters are out there. I’ve tried a whole bunch of them, and always keep coming back to the same one – Handbrake. Here’s why:

Convert Video To Play On Your iPhone in Windows

1. Head over to the Handbrake downloads page and download the Windows version. The installation is quick and painless – you’ll just click “Next” a few times. Launch Handbrake when the installation has completed.
2. Click the File button located in the left panel.
3. Navigate to and select the video file on your computer that you’d like to convert so you can play it on your iPhone or iPad, then click the Open button.
4. Handbrake will analyze the video, which doesn’t take much time at all, and then then the ‘main’ window will open.


click to enlarge

5. Now you have to determine the what quality you’d like the resulting video to be. The better the quality, the larger the file will be. The default option of Fast 1080p30 is a great starting point – the video will be high quality and the size will be quite reasonable. Plus, the encoding process is pretty quick (compared to other Presets. My suggestion is to try it first and then after you’ve viewed the result you can decide if you’d like to change the quality. There are dozens of Presets available to try out – just open the Presets: menu.
6. It’s time to start the conversion/encoding. Click the Start Encode button.
7. The bottom ‘status bar’ will display the progress of the encoding. The length of time it takes depends on how big/long the video is, and the speed of your computer. It’s probably going to take a while though, so perhaps now is a good time to grab a beverage.
8. Once it’s completed, open the folder that contains the file you wanted to convert, and the converted file will be there with it.
9. Before you transfer it to your iPhone with iTunes, open it up in your favorite video player and make sure everything looks good.
10. If for any reason you’re not happy with the result, try selecting a different preset to either increase or decrease the quality and/or file size. Otherwise, you’re all done!