QTIndexSwapper AIR Application for Flash Player H.264 files

2007.12.28 UPDATE: v1.3 of QTIndexSwapper requires AIR Beta 3

With the release of the Flash Player 9 Update that supports H.264, we can now play a subset of H.264 movie files. The problem is most of the H.264 files have the index at the end of the file which for progressive download means you have to download the whole file before you can start watching any of the video.

In the notes from Tinic Uro, Adobe engineer working on the changes, there is mention of a C application that helps with rearrange the inwards of a movie to put the index at the beginning. Thus help with the progressive download issue. To this end I have create an AIR application which does the index swapping for you.

Its called “QT Index Swapper” (v1.3 using AIR Beta 3 as of 2007.12.28), get it at http://renaun.com/air/QTIndexSwapper.air. And if that isn’t enough I have also made the source available inside the AIR application.

There will probably be some quirks and many files that might not work. But give it a try and let me know what you think. I was converting 500Mb-600Mb movie files that I have in MP4 format to play on my PlayStation 3. The files were being converted in under a minute, just beware that the AIR app might act like it is hanging while reading that much information. Just wait for it to run and watch the new file being created.

26 comments August 22nd, 2007