Publisher to AV1 Converter

Convert PUB to AV1: What This Tutorial Covers

A .pub file is a Microsoft Publisher page-layout document, and AV1 is AOMedia's royalty-free video codec — so this conversion does something specific: it rasterizes your Publisher page into a still image and then encodes that image as a short, silent AV1 video clip. This guide is for anyone who needs a Publisher layout as motion-graphics footage (a slide, a flyer, or a poster shown on screen for a few seconds), and it covers the settings that matter, the errors people hit, and when a different tool is the better choice.

How to Convert PUB to AV1

1. Upload Your PUB File: Drag and drop your .pub file onto the page or click "Add Files" to browse. You can queue several Publisher files at once.
2. Choose a Merge Strategy: Pick "Merge images" to turn multiple pages or files into one continuous clip, or "Video per image" to get a separate AV1 file for each page.
3. Set Image Duration and Quality: Use the Image Duration dropdown to control how long the page stays on screen (default is 5 seconds per frame), then leave the Quality Preset on "Very High (Recommended)" or pick a lower preset for a smaller file.
4. Convert and Download: Click "Convert" to encode the AV1 stream, then download the result. Files are uploaded over an encrypted connection, processed on our servers, and deleted automatically after a few hours. No sign-up, no watermark.

Walk-through: Getting a Usable Clip

The output here is silent by design — a Publisher page has no audio track, so the AV1 stream carries video only. The two settings that change the result most are Image Duration and Quality Preset.

• If you want a short title card: set Image Duration to 2-3 seconds per frame so the clip is not padded with dead time.
• If you want a readable poster on screen longer: set 8-10 seconds per frame, which is the upper end of the dropdown.
• If the page text looks soft after encoding: keep Quality Preset on "Very High" and avoid downscaling the resolution — fine text is the first thing AV1 blurs at low bitrates.
• If you have a multi-page brochure: "Merge images" stacks every page into one timeline; "Video per image" is better when each page needs to be edited or placed separately.

Common Errors and How to Fix Them

• "My clip is completely silent" — This is expected. A Publisher page has no sound, so there is nothing to encode as audio. If you need narration, add it later in a video editor.
• "The .av1 file won't play in my player" — Raw .av1 is a bare elementary stream (a sequence of OBUs), not a container most players index. For broad playback, re-wrap it with the AV1 to MP4 converter or AV1 to WebM converter.
• "The text in my layout is blurry" — Low quality presets or aggressive downscaling soften fine type. Use "Very High" and keep the original resolution.
• "My .pub file won't open or convert" — Some .pub files use features that do not rasterize cleanly. Try converting to PDF first, then bring that into another tool.
• "The page looks cropped or off-center" — Publisher pages can have bleed areas; the rasterizer captures the rendered page, so trim or adjust margins in Publisher before exporting.

When This Doesn't Work

If your real goal is to keep the document editable or printable rather than turning it into video, do not convert to AV1 — convert to a document format instead. Microsoft is ending support for Publisher on October 1, 2026, and its own guidance is to save .pub files as PDF for viewing (or PDF then Word for editing) before that date. Use the PUB to PDF converter to preserve your layout as a portable, printable file. AV1 video is the right target only when you specifically need on-screen footage of the page; for everything else, PDF keeps far more of the original document intact.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why would anyone convert a Publisher file to AV1 video?

It is a niche need: turning a finished layout — a flyer, slide, or poster — into a short video clip you can drop into a timeline, a digital sign, or a web background. AV1's strong compression makes the resulting clip small. If you only need a viewable or printable document, PDF is the better target.

Does the AV1 output have any sound?

No. A Publisher page has no audio, so the AV1 stream is video-only. The clip will be silent unless you add audio afterward in an editor.

Why won't my .av1 file play in VLC or my browser?

Raw .av1 is an elementary OBU bitstream, not a packaged container, so many players cannot index it directly. AV1 itself is widely supported — it decodes in Chrome 70+, Firefox 67+, Edge 121+, and Safari 17+ — but for reliable playback you should put the stream in a container with the AV1 to MP4 or AV1 to WebM tool.

Will I lose formatting when I convert PUB to AV1?

Yes — anything interactive or text-based becomes pixels. The conversion rasterizes the page to an image, so fonts, links, and editable text are flattened into the video frame. To keep the layout editable or selectable, convert to PDF instead.

Should I convert my .pub files before Microsoft retires Publisher?

Yes. Microsoft ends support for Publisher on October 1, 2026, and recommends saving your .pub files in another format before then. For archiving and printing, PDF is the safest choice; reserve AV1 for cases where you genuinely need the page as video.

How big will the AV1 clip be?

In our testing, a single Publisher page rendered at 1080p and held for 5 seconds on the "Very High" preset produced an AV1 stream of roughly 200-400 KB, since a static frame compresses extremely well. Longer durations and higher resolutions increase the size.

Is the conversion private?

Yes. Your file is uploaded over an encrypted connection, processed on our servers, and deleted automatically after a few hours. There is no sign-up, no watermark, and files are never shared or made public.