Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Watch Blip.tv Videos On iPhone With New "Magic Embed"

It's no secret that the iPhone doesn't support the Flash Player and many speculate that it will never happen. This limits the availability of online video content mainly to YouTube which encodes their videos in the advanced H.264 format. But Blip.tv has created a "magic" workaround that embeds the .m4v QuickTime movie within code that makes their videos viewable on the device.

This video by Blip.tv CTO and co-founder Justin Day below that demonstrates how to create a "magic iPhone embed."


The only catch is that the original video file needs to be in the Quicktime movie format. Blip.tv will not convert Flash videos to Quicktime. See the Apple Developer web site Technical Note TN2188: Exporting Movies for iPod, Apple TV and iPhone on for the optimal settings.

As Blip CEO Mike Hudack told Wired.com, "We think it's very important that iPhone users be able to enjoy a full Web experience, including video playback. Just as important, show creators should be able to distribute video everywhere that people watch video. This is a meaningful step forward."

Ryan Lawler of Contentinople notes that, "With the new iPhone embed, Blip.tv producers will still be able to cash in on advertising that runs against their content. In addition to their videos, all ads that are sold to run up against Blip.tv video content will also be iPhone-friendly."

Thanks Blip.tv!