3 Ways to Import and edit MP4 in VirtualDub

Based on Windows platforms, VirtualDub is a free video capture/processing program. Unlike Sony Vegas, FCP, iMovie and Adobe Premiere, it lacks the editing capability of most general-purpose editors. One of the most frustrated features is that, stand-alone VirtualDub cannot handle MP4, MKV, FLV, MOV or any other files except AVI, whereas many users still embrace it as it's featured for fast linear operations over video. But other than AVI, anyway, there are still ways to help you open any files like MP4 in VirtualDub so that you can run a sharpen filter for your video flawlessly.

➤ Method 1 Plugins of VirtualDub for MP4 and other formats

➤ Method 2 Use AVISynth script

➤ Method 3 Convert MP4 to VirtualDub supported AVI

➤ Alternative to Videomate to get MP4 working with VirtualDub

How to get VirtualDub handle MP4 files smoothly?

As we all know, VirsualDub only accepts digital video in the AVI, DIVX, MPG, MPV, M1V or DAT file format, that means MP4 is not the native VirtualDub supported file formats. If you keep on using VirtualDub to make simple edits to your MP4 clips, you can try out the following three different methods to get the most out of it.

Method 1 Plugins of VirtualDub for MP4 and other formats

To allow VirtualDub to work with the necessary video file formats like MP4/MKV/MOV, the appropriate plug-ins for these formats must be downloaded and loaded into VirtualDub.

Plug-in Pack 1. Ffmpeg Input Driver

The plugin is related with the ffmpeg libraries. It can handle 31 different file formats, such as MP4, MKV, FLV, MOV, RM, RVMB, WMV and TS. And if something doesn’t work, remember, this is a plugin still in early development stage as of 03.07.2011.

Plug-in Pack 2. fccHandler

It can handle MPEG-2, FLV, WMV, MKV, FLC as well as AC-3 ACM codec. However, the its website is unavailable at the moment for some reasons. But there are two mirrors with his stuff: Mirror 1, Mirror 2.

Plug-in Pack 3. Haali Media Splitter

It's able to handle MP4, MKV, MTS, M2TS.

Plug-in Pack 4. ffdshow-tryouts

Enable to handle MP4, MKV, MTS, M2TS.

Method 2 Use AVISynth script

If you know how how to use AVISynth, you can simply open different kinds of video formats in VirtualDub. Basically, it works like this: First, you create a simple text document with special commands, called a script. These commands make references to one or more videos and the filters you wish to run on them. After that you run VirtualDub and open the script file. Then VirtualDub doesn't aware that AVISynth is working in the background, but thinks it's directly opening a filtered AVI file. Now let's see how to make the magic happen:

1. Install K-lite Codec Pack and update FFDShow

First, ensure that the target file is playable in Windows Media Player. So you need to install the necessary codecs to your computer. K-lite Codec Pack which always provides the latest and complete codecs is just fine. You can select a suitable version and choose the codecs you need.

Then open the target video file with Windows Media Player and it should play. If not, you should update your FFDShow to the latest version.

2. Install AVISynth

Then download and install AVISynth, and tick all the options during the installation.

3. Create an AVISynth Script

Open NotePad. Type DirectShowSource("c:locationtovideo.mp4"). Then replace c:locationtovideo.mp4 with the location to your video file (right click the video file to gain the location). Then go to "File" > "Save as" > "Save as Type: All files" and name your video file as video.avs. You can now import the video.avs file in Virtualdub.

NOTE: Please ensure you are using 64-bit VirtualDub, or Avisynth will fail to load to VirtualDub because Avisynth is a 32-bit DLL.

Method 3 Convert MP4 to VirtualDub supported AVI

From some users' feedback, we know that some users are not so professional to handle with plug-ins and AVISynth mentioned above, which are too complicated sounding like a profound hieroglyphics without the word, once you can't install properly that will probably intrigue infinite annoyance. Compared that, the most facilities is to import the media into the application after converting it into a compatible format like AVI. And Dimo Videomate is an easy-to-use yet professional app to achieve your goal smoothly.

With it, you can easily convert any MP4 (HD, 4K also included), MKV, MTS, MOV, FLV and many other formats to AVI for smoothly editing in VirtualDub. Besides MP4 conversion, it can also transcode more video file formats like MTS, MXF, M4V, AVI, MKV to the compatible format of VirtualDub, Sony Vegas, Windows Movie Maker, Adobe Premiere Pro etc. without any quality loss. Now just download its free trail version as per your computer condition of PC or Mac and follow the below guide to take your task down.

Free Trial Free Trial

people have downloaded it

Tutorials to convert MP4 and import MP4 to VirtualDub

Step 1. Load MP4 video files

Run the program and click "Add File" to import the MP4 videos. You can also directly drag the video clips into the program for conversion.

Step 2. Choose VirtualDub compatible format

From the drop-down list of "Select Format" you can select "AVI" from "Video" or "HD AVI" from "HD Video" category as the output format. When you have selected the output format, you could define a destination folder for the output file by clicking "...", or you can let it be the default one.

Tips:

1. Click the "Settings" button to adjust the parameters of Video Settings and Audio Settings before conversion, such as video codec to "XVID" which is the native encode of VirtualDub before converting MP4 to VirtualDub or converting VirtualDub to MP4 or related portable devices.

2. By clicking "Edit" button, you can trim, crop the video, or add watermark, adjust effect, rendering 3D effect for pre-editing your video files so that you can simplify your editing.

Step 3 Convert MP4 to VirtualDub friendly video format

Click the "Start" button on the main interface and the software will start to rewrap MP4 to VirtualDub friendly video formats immediately. When conversion finished, click "Open" to find the converted video files. Then you can effortlessly import the converted MP4 files to VirtualDub for editing later.

Alternative to Videomate to get MP4 working with VirtualDub

If you are considering using VirtualDub to open and edit the files from your precious disc library like Blu-ray/DVD for uploading to YouTube or Facebook, you can also turn to the versatile Dimo Video Converter Ultimate app, which enables you to convert any source files to VirtualDub compatible format without limits.