Convert FLV to MOV Flash Video ↔ QuickTime Movie Free Online Secure
Your FLV is opened here in your browser and its picture and sound are moved into a MOV container. When MOV accepts what was inside — which it usually does — nothing is re-encoded, so nothing is lost and it takes seconds.
Convert your file
Drop an FLV here, or choose one.
Your file never leaves this device. Everything runs in your browser.
Nothing uploaded
Where these formats come from
AVI is Microsoft's container from 1992, built when video was something you played from a CD-ROM. MOV is Apple's, a year older, and it was so well designed that the MP4 format the whole world now uses was built directly on it. FLV was Macromedia's, later Adobe's: it carried almost all internet video for a decade and disappeared with Flash at the end of 2020. The word that matters here is container. None of these three is a way of compressing video; each is a box that holds video compressed by something else, alongside the sound and the subtitles. That distinction explains most of the surprises on this page.
Where you meet them
AVI survives in old camera footage, in archives and in software that was written in the nineties and never replaced. MOV comes out of iPhones and Macs and is the working format of a great deal of video editing. FLV is almost entirely a legacy: files downloaded or recorded before 2020 that nothing modern will open. Converting between them is usually about making an old recording playable again, or handing a file to a program that insists on one particular box.
Questions people ask
What is the difference between a container and a codec?
The container is the box — AVI, MOV, MP4 — and the codec is how the pictures inside were compressed — H.264, MPEG-4, and others. A file called .avi tells you almost nothing about what is inside it. This is why one AVI plays and another does not, although both have the same extension: the player understands the box but not the codec within. It is also why converting between containers is sometimes instant and sometimes slow — in the first case only the box is being changed.
Why won't my old FLV files play any more?
Because the software that played them was Flash, and Flash was switched off at the end of 2020 and removed from every browser. The files themselves are intact; what has gone is the thing that knew how to open them. Converting to a modern container is the way to get them back, and it is worth doing before the tools that still understand FLV become scarce as well.
Does the file lose quality?
It depends on what the two formats can hold. Converting between formats that store the same thing — a PNG to a BMP, a WAV to a FLAC — loses nothing. Converting into a format that throws information away to save space, such as JPEG or MP3, loses a little every time, and converting back does not bring it back. Where a choice exists, this page errs towards keeping the original quality rather than making the smallest file.
Is my file uploaded anywhere?
No. The conversion happens inside your browser, on your own machine; the file never leaves it and there is no server here that could receive it. That is why a large file is limited by your own memory rather than by an upload, and why nothing you convert can appear in anybody's logs — including ours. The audio and video tools do fetch their conversion engine from this site the first time you use them, some thirty megabytes once; after that the work still happens entirely on your machine.
Why people convert FLV to MOV
MOV is the video format of the Apple world: the format of QuickTime, of iPhone and Mac recordings and of the editing programs that run on Apple computers. FLV is the format of the Flash era, which ended in 2020. If you have old clips in FLV and you work on a Mac or an iPad, you will have noticed that your tools do not want them: QuickTime will not play them, the editing program will not import them and the clip sits in a folder, unreachable. That is why people convert FLV to MOV: they want an old video to become something their Apple tools can open, edit and share.
The situations are everyday ones. An old interview downloaded years ago that you want to cut into a new project on a Mac. A family clip saved in the Flash years that your iPad will not play. A recording to put into a presentation in Keynote. A lecture to include in a video compilation. In each case the picture and sound are fine, and the wrapper is the problem. Converting FLV to MOV changes the wrapper, and in most cases leaves the contents untouched.
This page converts FLV to MOV in your browser. Your video is not uploaded to a server, which matters for family footage and private recordings. Below you will find how the conversion works, why it is usually fast and lossless, when it is not, and what to know about the converter itself.
How the conversion works
The container is rewritten, not the video
A video file has two layers. Inside are the picture and the sound, each stored in a particular coded form. Around them is a container, such as FLV or MOV, which holds the two together and tells a player how to play them. Here, your FLV is opened in your browser and its picture and sound are moved into a MOV container. When MOV accepts what was inside, which it usually does, nothing is re-encoded, so nothing is lost and it takes seconds.
Why it is so fast
Because nothing is re-encoded, the work is little more than copying. Re-encoding a film is slow; copying it into a new container is quick. A video an hour long can be moved in seconds, because the converter does not touch the pictures, only their packaging.
Container and codec, in plain words
A codec is the method used to compress the picture or the sound. A container is the file format that holds them. Changing the container without changing the codecs is like moving the contents of a box into a different box: the contents are identical, only the box is different. That is why the process is lossless whenever the new box can hold the old contents.
What is kept
The picture and the sound exactly as they were
When you convert FLV to MOV here, the picture and the sound are kept exactly as they were, whenever the destination accepts them. The video is not recompressed, softened or resized. What you see in the MOV is what was in the FLV, frame for frame.
Length, frame size and frame rate
The length, the frame size and the frame rate are untouched. A clip of three minutes stays three minutes, a picture of 640 by 360 stays 640 by 360, and the movement stays at its original speed.
What may cost you something
When MOV will not take what the FLV held
Sometimes MOV will not accept the coded form of the picture or sound that the FLV contains. In that case, the video is re-encoded, which means decoded and compressed again in a form MOV accepts. Re-encoding always costs a little quality, and it takes longer than simply moving the contents. The converter handles it automatically, but it explains why some conversions take seconds and others minutes.
Subtitles and chapter marks
Subtitles and chapter marks are not carried over. Old Flash clips rarely have them, but if yours does, keep the original and note what is missing.
The converter is fetched the first time
The converter itself is not part of the page. It is fetched the first time you use one of these video pages, about nine megabytes, once. After that it stays in your browser, and later conversions start straight away. On a slow connection the first use takes longer, and offline you must have loaded it once before.
Long films on phones and tablets
Everything runs on your own device, so a long film on a phone or tablet may run out of memory before it finishes. If that happens, try on a computer, or cut the video into shorter parts first.
What FLV and MOV are
FLV, Flash Video, was the container of the video web for more than a decade, streamed through the Flash player that browsers used to carry. When Flash was withdrawn in 2020, the format lost its home. MOV is the container developed for Apple's QuickTime technology. It is flexible, it can hold many kinds of picture and sound, and it has been the native language of video on Apple computers and, later, iPhones and iPads. Many professional editing programs on every platform read it as well.
When you convert FLV to MOV, you move a video from a container that has lost its audience to one that is at home on a huge range of equipment. Because the picture and sound inside need not change, the job is usually quick and lossless. That is the great virtue of the approach: it keeps what you have and changes only how it is wrapped.
Why MOV is a good destination
MOV is widely accepted by editing software, by Apple's own programs and by many players on other systems. It is also forgiving about what it holds, which is why FLV's contents usually fit in it without being re-encoded. For a clip that you want to keep using, it is one of the safest places to put it.
Cutting old clips into new projects
The most common reason to convert FLV to MOV is editing. You have a clip from the Flash years, an interview, a talk, a news item or a family event, and you want to use it in a new project. An editor that rejects FLV will normally accept MOV. After the conversion, the clip goes onto the timeline like any other. You can cut it, add titles, mix its sound and export the project in a modern format.
Because the picture is usually untouched, the quality in your project is exactly the quality of the original. Old Flash clips were often small and rather soft, so do not expect miracles: the conversion does not improve them. But it does not make them worse, and that is the best you can ask of a format change.
Mixing clips of different shapes
Flash-era clips are often smaller than modern video, with a squarer shape. In a new project, they may appear with black bars or be scaled up and look soft. That is a matter of how you place them in your editor, not of the conversion. Using them at a reduced size, or inside a frame, often looks better than stretching them to fill the screen.
Playing old clips on Apple devices
iPhones, iPads and Macs have never been fond of FLV, and since Flash was withdrawn, nothing on them opens it. If you want to watch an old clip on a tablet, or share one with a relative who has an iPhone, converting FLV to MOV is a direct route: the clip becomes playable in the built-in player and in the photo library.
If the recipient does not use Apple devices, MOV usually still plays on computers with common players, but a more universal choice may be AVI or MP4. Think about who will watch, and convert FLV to MOV when the audience is on Apple equipment or using editing software that favours it.
Putting the clip in a presentation
Keynote, Apple's presentation program, plays MOV natively. A clip that was impossible to embed becomes simple once it has been converted. Test the presentation on the machine you will present from, as with any embedded video.
How to convert FLV to MOV here
Add your video
Drop the FLV onto the page or pick it from your device. It is opened inside your browser and is not uploaded.
Let it finish
Press the button. If the contents can simply be moved, it takes seconds. If they must be re-encoded, it takes longer. Leave the page open until it is done.
Download and check
Download the MOV and open it in QuickTime or your editing program. Watch the beginning, a bit from the middle and the end. Check that sound and picture stay together and that the length is the same.
Questions people ask before converting
Will the quality drop?
Usually not. When MOV accepts what the FLV held, nothing is re-encoded. If re-encoding is needed, a little quality is given up.
Why did it take only a few seconds?
Because only the container was rewritten, not the video itself.
Will it play on my iPhone and Mac?
MOV is their home format, so the container is right. If the codec inside is one Apple's software does not know, it may not play, in which case the converter's re-encode into a compatible form helps.
Is my video uploaded?
No. Everything runs in your browser and the video never leaves your device.
Who converts FLV to MOV
Mac and iPad users with old clips
Clips from the Flash era become playable and editable in Apple's tools.
Video editors on Apple software
Editing programs on the Mac accept MOV readily, so an old clip can go into a project.
Presenters
Presentation software on Apple devices plays MOV directly, which makes an old clip usable in a talk.
Common mistakes
Deleting the original
Keep the FLV until you have checked the MOV in the program that matters.
Converting in chains
Each re-encode costs quality. Convert once from the original.
Closing the page too soon
A long film takes time. Leave the page open until the download is ready.
Related tools
To go the other way, convert MOV to FLV, though FLV is a dead format. For Windows-friendly AVI, FLV to AVI, AVI to MOV and MOV to AVI work in the same way, and AVI to FLV covers the last pairing. For the sound alone, M4A to MP3 and MP3 to M4A change the audio format.
When to convert FLV to MOV, and when not to
Converting is right when an FLV will not open where you need it, particularly on Apple devices or in editing software. It is the wrong move when your current player opens the FLV well and you have no need to move it, and it is unnecessary if the destination accepts FLV and you are happy with that.
For the common cases, such as old downloads, family clips and files for editors, it is quick, private and dependable to convert FLV to MOV in the browser. Your original is never changed, so you can come back and convert FLV to MOV again whenever you like.
Batches of videos
If you have many clips to convert, do them one at a time and keep the originals in a separate folder. Try one first and check it in the player or editor you will use. When you convert FLV to MOV in bulk, consistency matters more than speed.
If a file takes a long time
A conversion that takes minutes, not seconds, means the video is being re-encoded because MOV would not take what the FLV held. That is normal. Leave the page open and let it finish, then watch the result carefully, since re-encoding costs a little quality.
Checking the result properly
After you convert FLV to MOV, play the MOV from the beginning, jump to the middle and watch the end. Check that sound and picture stay together, that the length is the same and that the picture looks as it did. If something is wrong, the original is untouched, so you can try again.
A simple routine to convert FLV to MOV well
Test whether the FLV still plays in your current player. If not, convert FLV to MOV, one clip first. Play the result in QuickTime or your editor. If it works, convert the rest and rename the files clearly. Keep the FLV originals in an archive folder. This routine takes a few minutes for a handful of clips, and it works whether you convert FLV to MOV once a year or every week.
Your video stays on your device
The conversion happens locally. Your video is opened by your own browser, moved into a new container there and handed back. Nothing is uploaded, so there is no copy on a server and no one else who could watch it. For family footage and private recordings, that is the safe way to convert FLV to MOV.
A worked example
Say you have an interview from 2010 saved as an FLV of 90 megabytes, and you want to cut it into a video on your Mac. QuickTime will not play it. You drop it here and press the button. In a few seconds you download a MOV of about the same size, with the same length, picture and sound. You import it into your editor, and it appears on the timeline like any other clip. The FLV stays in your archive.
Archiving old video for the long term
Old clips are at risk simply because the software that plays them has vanished. If you have a collection that matters, such as family video or recordings of events, treat conversion as part of preserving it. Move the clips into a format that current software handles, check that they play, and keep both versions. When you convert FLV to MOV, you also give the clips a better chance of surviving the next change of equipment.
Store the converted files with the originals, in a folder with a clear name and a short note about where the clips came from. Back them up in two places. A clip that exists in two formats on two disks is far more likely to be watchable in twenty years than a single FLV on an old drive. You can also use the FLV to AVI route if you want a second, Windows-friendly copy, and AVI to MOV if some of your clips are already in that format.
A note on file names and dates
Record the date and the subject of every clip in its name, something like 2010-07-birthday-garden. Flash-era downloads often have meaningless names, and a year from now you will not remember what clip-4817 was. A minute of naming when you convert FLV to MOV saves hours of searching later.
Before you close the page
Check that you downloaded the MOV, that it plays in QuickTime or your editor, and that you kept the original FLV.
Summary
To convert FLV to MOV here, drop the video and press the button. The picture and sound are moved into a MOV container, and when MOV accepts what was inside, which it usually does, nothing is re-encoded, so nothing is lost and it takes seconds. Length, frame size and frame rate are untouched. Where MOV will not take what the FLV held, the video is re-encoded, which costs a little quality. The converter is fetched the first time, about nine megabytes, once. Nothing leaves your device.