How To Convert Downloaded Movies To Stream Using Apple TV?

Apple TV is very good in streaming movies from apple's iTunes library. In fact any movie that you can  play with iTunes even without adding it in the library can be streamed from any computer that runs iTunes, windows PC's included. However, not every video format is compatible with it. Downloaded videos in FLV, MKV and even AVI formats will not play in iTunes. This means they are just ignored when you want to play them with iTunes. They need to be converted to MP4 first.

I use a free application to convert almost any movie format into MP4. This can be downloaded from

http://www.freemake.com/free_video_converter/

Aside from being free, Freemake Video Converter is very easy to use and fast too. It can convert a video into many popular formats like apple, android, avi, flv, mp4 and many more. See picture below.

How to convert videos compatible to apple TV using FreeMake Converter.

1. Open the application and click video(1)

2. This will open an explorer window and go to where you kept the video you want to convert, in this case, it is under Movies(2). 

3. Choose the one you want to convert(3).

4. Click OK(4).

5. Choose which format you want to convert it. MP4(5) is usually compatible to most media players, iTunes included. This is more flexible than any of the formats available.

6. Next step is to choose the quality(6) of the video. The quality affects the file size, so if you want to transfer your video into a mobile phone, there is a selection for mobile quality. The only downside is, it will not look good when played in a big screen.

7. Choose where(7) you want to save the converted video.

8. Click convert(8)

9. The elapse time during conversion is shown at the popup window. At this point, you can cancel or pause the conversion anytime by pressing the correct button.

How to stream converted video to Apple TV

10. The video is now ready for apple TV streaming. Assuming your apple TV is already connected to the same network as your laptop, right click the converted file(10).

11. Click "open with" and select iTunes(11)

12. Click the airplay button(12) 

13. Then choose appleTV(13).Now you can enjoy the converted movie on a bigger monitor using apple TV!