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edTPA Solutions to Common Problems

The size of my file exceeds the maximum allowable upload limit for the site where I am supposed to post my edTPA video(s)

For the most up-to-date information on recommended (and maximum allowable) sizes for files that may be uploaded to the edTPA video web site, please see the document entitled "  Recommended Video Formats and Settings  " on   Pearson's edTPA site .  (Since this is a .PDF  file, you will need a program like   Adobe Reader   to access its contents.)  At present,  the recommended size for each video is between 200MB and 300MB  (but is certainly permitted to be less), and  the maximum allowable file size is 500MB .

One easy way to find the size of a video file on your computer is to click the  Open File  button on the left of the Shotcut button bar, browse to the location where the video is stored, and hover your mouse over the file.  A tiny pop-up should appear that displays the name of the file, its size, and total playing time (measured either in minutes and seconds, or hours, minutes, and seconds, depending on the length of the video).  (See  Figure 10 , below.)

Figure 10:    The image below shows the Shotcut  Open File  window with the tiny pop-up (displaying the size of the selected video) highlighted in red.  
video of some honey bees open in Shotcut, with the tiny pop-up (displaying the name, file size, and total playing time of the selected video) highlighted in red and superimposed over the "Open File" window

 

Another way to find the size of a video file is to:

  1. right-click on the file,
  2. select the  Properties  option at the bottom of the context menu that now opens, and
  3. View the  Size  option about half-way down the  Properties  window on the left.

If that does not work, you could:  

  1. Click the  Properties  button about half-way across the button bar near  the top of the Shotcut window,
  2. then click the button entitled  Display a menu of additional actions  (i.e., the button with the three horizontal line segments, located about three-quarters of the way down the  Properties  window, immediately to the right of the  Reset  button),
  3. select (by clicking) the  More Information  option in the drop-down menu that now appears, and
  4. scroll up and down through the options in the (larger)  More Options  window to the right until you locate the value for the  size  parameter under the  [format]  heading.

If you discover that the size of your video exceeds the maximum allowable upload limit, you can use the  Quality  setting (located under the  Codec  tab in Shotcut's  Export  window) to compress the file to a more acceptable size.  To compress any video file, follow these steps:

  1. If the video you wish to compress is not already open in Shotcut, click the  Open File  button (on the left of the Shotcut button bar), browse to the location where the file resides, and double-click on it.  (We will call this the "input" video.)
  2. Click the  Export  button on the right of the Shotcut button bar at the top of the screen.  (See  Figure 11 , below.)
  3. Near the top of the  Export  window that now opens (see  Figure 12 , below), click the  Codec  tab.  This is the second of the four tabs (between the  Video  and  Audio  tabs) near the top of the  Export  window.
  4. Either type in (or use the up/down arrows to select) the desired value for the  Quality setting.  (See  Figure 13 , below.)

When deciding on what  Quality  setting to use, please keep the following points in mind:

  • Increasing the  Quality setting will result in improved playback quality and larger file size.
  • Decreasing the  Quality setting will result in degraded playback quality and smaller file size.
  • Shotcut will always default to a  Quality setting of  60%  each time the program opens, providing a good initial starting point that exhibits a reasonable compromise between playback quality and file size.
  • As long as the program remains running, Shotcut will remember the  Quality setting that was used previously in that particular session.
  • Don't be afraid to experiment.
  1. Click the  Export File button at the bottom of the  Export window, navigate to the location where you would like to save the (compressed) "output" video you are making, and give the file a meaningful name.  (It is an excellent idea to incorporate the value of the  Quality  setting you are using into the file name to help keep track of which file is which, in the event, you have to generate multiple files with different  Quality  settings.)
  2. When the  Export process has finished, check the file size of the (output) video you have just created, and also play it to check its quality.  If you are dissatisfied with either the file size or playback quality, repeat steps 1  through  6  again, this time with a different value for the  Quality setting.  (Each time you generate a new video file through the   Export process, always be sure to use the same (input) video you used during previous compression attempts .  Do not use the output file from one attempt as the input file for another, as this will yield videos of inferior quality.)
Figure 11:    The image below shows the Shotcut program window with the  Export button highlighted in red.
video of some honey bees open in Shotcut, with the "Export" button (on the far right of the button bar) highlighted in red

Figure 12:    The image below shows the Shotcut  Export window with the  Codec tab highlighted in red.  
video of some honey bees open in Shotcut, with the "Codec" tab (near the top of the "Export" window) highlighted in red

Figure 13:    The image below shows the Shotcut  Export window with the (default)  Quality setting of  60%  highlighted in red. 
video of some honey bees open in Shotcut, with the (default) value of 60% for the "Quality" setting (in the "Export" window, under the "Codec" tab) highlighted in red
2024-07-30T13:30:56.024330523-07:00 2024