FAQ: How To Convert Video For Your BlackBerry For Free!

I have been asked countless times about how to encode video to play correctly on a BlackBerry. So I decided to write up a post with a short description of the 2 free pieces of software I use to re-encode video to play on my BlackBerry 8310 Curve. There are other commercial video encoders but personally I always try to use free software alternatives. On the other hand the commercial video encoders will do a better job of holding your hand through the conversion process and simplifying the work.

The most popular software  is SUPER (Simplified Universal Player Encoder & Renderer). The software is completely free and does a great job of encoding video. It is basically a GUI for ffmpeg, MEncoder, mplayer, x264, and quite a few other plugins. The software is simple to use but you do need some help in choosing what format to encode the video into. SUPER is very quick and the unique part about this encoder is that you do not need to install any codecs or anything because they are all included in the package.

These are the settings I use for SUPER:

Output format – MPEG4
Video Scale Size – 320×240 or 240×260 for the BlackBerry 8100 Pearl
Output Audio Codec – AAC
Output Video Codec – MPEG-4
Bitrate – 384 kbps
Frame Rate – 25 fps

You can download SUPER at this link

The second encoder I sometimes use is called MediaCoder which is also free. This software also includes the codecs and has a very good batch mode for converting multiple files in a row. I use MediaCoder mostly when I have videos that have issues or problems with SUPER. It has a better error correction system but does not work as fast in my opinion. The support for MediaCoder is phenomenal and their forums can answer just about any question.

The settings I use for MediaCoder are:

Output Format – MPEG4
Video Size – 320×240 or 240×260 for the BlackBerry 8100 Pearl
Video Bitrate – 400K
Audio Codec – MP3
Audio Bitrate – 48K at 22khz or 44khz (Personally 22Khz works fine)
Video Frame Rate – 30fps works fine but 24fps seems to be faster

You can download MediaCoder at this link

Let me know what software or settings you guys use!