M4V to XviD Converter

Convert M4V to Xvid: What This Tutorial Covers

This walks through re-encoding an Apple .m4v — an MP4 container, usually H.264 video with AAC audio — into Xvid, the open-source MPEG-4 Part 2 Advanced Simple Profile encoder that DivX-certified DVD players, 2000s set-top boxes, portable media players and car head units were built around. It is deliberately a step backwards in codec efficiency, so the tutorial covers when that trade is worth making, the one thing you must do to the downloaded file before a player will touch it, and how the quality controls behave on a codec that has no CRF mode.

How to Convert M4V to Xvid

1. Upload Your M4V File: Drag the .m4v onto the page or click "Add Files" to browse. Plain .mp4 is accepted, and batches are supported. Files are uploaded over an encrypted connection, processed on our servers, and deleted automatically after a few hours.
2. Check Video Codec and Audio Codec: Open Advanced Options. Video Codec is fixed to Xvid on this page. Audio Codec defaults to MP3, which is the pairing legacy hardware expects; AAC, AC3, MP2, Vorbis, WMA and several PCM variants are also offered.
3. Choose a File Compression Mode and Resolution: File Compression starts on Quality Preset, with Constant Bitrate, Variable Bitrate, Specific file size, Constant Quality and Constraint Quality available. Video resolution defaults to Keep original; Trim → Time Range exports a single segment.
4. Convert and Download: Click Convert and save the file — then read the next section before trying to play it.

Rename the Download Before You Play It

The file you get back is named .xvid, and that extension is a label for the codec, not a container. What is actually inside is an AVI file: the converter writes standard AVI bytes and simply names them after the codec you asked for. Almost nothing recognises .xvid as a media file, so a player will either ignore it or refuse to open it.

The fix takes two seconds: rename the downloaded file from something.xvid to something.avi. Nothing is re-encoded, nothing is lost — you are correcting the label on a file that was already an AVI. After the rename it behaves like any other Xvid AVI: DVD players scanning a USB stick will list it, VLC and MPC-HC will open it, and DivX-certified hardware will index it.

If you would rather skip the rename entirely, M4V to AVI produces a correctly named .avi from the outset.

Walk-through: Settings a Legacy Player Will Accept

Most "it converted fine but my DVD player ignores it" reports come from an encode that is technically valid MPEG-4 ASP but outside the narrow profile a 2003-2012 decoder chip implements. Match the hardware deliberately rather than leaving everything on default:

• Cap the resolution. Most standalone players top out at standard definition — 720 × 480 for NTSC regions, 720 × 576 for PAL. Set this with Preset Resolutions, which sets the height and lets the width follow the source aspect ratio. Avoid typing an explicit Width x Height such as 720 × 480 on a 16:9 source: the scaler hits those exact numbers and flags the result as square-pixel, so the picture ends up horizontally squeezed rather than letterboxed.
• Keep the bitrate modest. Many certified players stumble above roughly 2000 Kbps regardless of whether the file is otherwise valid. Constant Bitrate is the predictable way to stay under a ceiling.
• Watch the file size. Older players commonly refuse files over 2 GB, and FAT32 sticks cannot hold anything over 4 GB at all. Specific file size lets you name a target directly.
• Leave the audio on MP3. The AAC track your M4V started with is generally not decoded by DivX/Xvid-era hardware inside an AVI. AC3 is a reasonable second choice on DVD-Video-era players; AAC is the one to avoid.
• Put the file in the root folder of the USB stick. Some early firmware only scans the top level, and only for a small set of extensions — another reason the .avi rename matters.

How the Compression Modes Behave on Xvid

Xvid has no constant-rate-factor mode, so the controls do not mean what an x264 user expects.

The Constant Quality slider is the trap worth repeating. It is labelled CRF, but on Xvid it drives ffmpeg's quantizer scale, which runs 1 to 31 in the opposite direction from x264's 0-51 range. Entering 23 because it is the familiar x264 default asks for near-worst-case quantization and produces a badly blocked picture. If you use this mode at all, start around 2 to 5.

Xvid Compared With the Realistic Alternatives

Common Errors and How to Fix Them

• "Nothing will open the downloaded file" — it is named .xvid. Rename it to .avi and try again; the bytes are already an AVI.
• "The converter rejected my M4V" — the file is almost certainly FairPlay-protected. Purchases and rentals from the iTunes Store and Apple TV app are encrypted to an authorised Apple ID and cannot be decoded by any converter.
• "It plays on my PC but the DVD player skips it" — usually resolution or bitrate. Drop to a 480p or 576p height preset and hold the bitrate under about 2000 Kbps.
• "The picture is squeezed or stretched" — an explicit Width x Height was used on a source with a different aspect ratio. There is no pixel-aspect correction or automatic letterboxing here, so use a height preset and let the width follow.
• "The picture is blocky compared with the original" — re-encoding H.264 into MPEG-4 ASP costs a codec generation. Raise the bitrate or the Quality Preset; Xvid will not match H.264 at the same size.
• "There is no sound on the player" — the audio is probably AAC. Set Audio Codec back to MP3, or AC3 for DVD-Video-era hardware.

When This Doesn't Work

FairPlay-encrypted iTunes content will never convert, and neither will a corrupted or partially downloaded M4V — re-export the source first. More importantly, check that Xvid is genuinely what you need. If the destination is a phone, browser, smart TV, media server or video editor, all of those decode H.264 natively and benefit from files roughly half the size, so M4V to MP4 is the better conversion. Xvid is worth the efficiency penalty only when the playback device predates H.264 entirely. Going the other way — an old Xvid clip you want back in the Apple ecosystem — is Xvid to M4V.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does my download have a .xvid extension instead of .avi?

Because the output extension you asked for is a codec name, and the tool names the file after it. The bytes inside are a standard AVI carrying an Xvid video stream, so renaming the file to .avi makes every player recognise it. Nothing is re-encoded by the rename. If you would rather not do it manually, use M4V to AVI instead.

Is Xvid the same thing as DivX?

They implement the same standard — MPEG-4 Part 2 Advanced Simple Profile — and produce streams that decode on the same certified hardware. The difference is licensing and provenance: Xvid is a GPL-licensed open-source encoder that began in 2001 after the OpenDivX source was closed, while DivX Inc.'s codec is proprietary. In practice most DivX-certified players handle Xvid AVI files, though Xvid is not part of the formal DivX certification suite. If a device explicitly demands a DivX stream, use M4V to DivX.

Will the Xvid file be bigger than my M4V?

Usually yes. M4V carries H.264, and Xvid is the older codec H.264 replaced; matching the original's visual quality commonly needs somewhere around one and a half to two times the bitrate. You can cap the size instead, but then the picture softens. That inefficiency is the expected price of targeting hardware that cannot decode H.264 at all — those players were designed around 1-2 Mbps MPEG-4 ASP streams in the first place.

What number should I put in the CRF field?

Something small, if you use that field at all. On Xvid it is not an x264-style CRF: it drives a quantizer scale from 1 to 31 where 1 is the highest quality and 31 the lowest. A value in the twenties, which would be a sensible x264 default, asks for heavy quantization here. Values around 2 to 5 are the usable range, and for most people Quality Preset or Constant Bitrate is a better control to reach for.

Can I convert a DRM-protected iTunes M4V?

No. Films and TV shows purchased or rented from Apple carry FairPlay copy protection, which restricts decoding to devices authorised against the purchasing Apple ID. A converter cannot read the video stream, so the job fails outright. Only DRM-free M4V files convert: your own exports, HandBrake encodes, camera footage and screen recordings.

What happens to the AAC audio from my M4V?

It is decoded and re-encoded, not copied — by default into MP3, which is the audio format DivX/Xvid playback hardware reliably handles. If your player is DVD-Video-era, AC3 is a good alternative. Keeping AAC is possible but usually a mistake for legacy targets, since most certified players cannot decode AAC inside an AVI and you end up with silent playback.

Does the conversion fix interlacing, HDR, or an unusual pixel aspect ratio?

No, and it is better to know that up front. There is no deinterlacing filter in this pipeline, so combing in an interlaced source stays baked into the output. There is no HDR tone-mapping either, so HDR footage gets a plain colour conversion and can look washed out. And there is no pixel-aspect correction, so anamorphic sources need an explicit Width × Height to look right. Handle any of these in a desktop editor before uploading.

Why does my player show the file but stutter or freeze during playback?

Almost always bitrate. A file can be perfectly valid MPEG-4 ASP and still overrun the fixed decoding budget of an older chipset. Switch File Compression to Constant Bitrate, keep it under roughly 2000 Kbps, and drop the resolution to a 480p or 576p height preset. Advanced ASP features such as quarter-pixel motion and global motion compensation are another classic cause; the default encode here does not enable them.

How long are my files kept on your servers?

Your M4V is uploaded over an encrypted connection, processed on our servers, and both the upload and the converted file are deleted automatically after a few hours. There is no sign-up, no watermark, and nothing is shared or made public.