Convert .mpg file to .mp4 using VLC for Mac

Backstory

My kids participate in studies for Infant Cognition and Language Lab at UC Berkeley. This last visit, I asked if they could forward a copy of the videos to me afterwards. Because my husband went into my son's study and I went into my daughter's study, we both wanted to see how the other kid participated. They are about 20 months apart, so they are studied and separated into different age range and development groups.

The Lab shared the video by google docs and I was able to download the .mpg. My husband didn't have the ability to open the .mpg without the mpeg 2 plug-in for quicktime. So I wanted to use VLC and convert it so my husband wouldn't have to download new software.

BTW - I have a mac and my husband uses a PC and he is NOT tech savvy.

Objective

This tutorial will help you  maintain the audio. I made various choices in the past that did not allow me to maintain the audio. No watermark is made by this software onto your final file. You will end up with an .mp4 that you can listen to on your device or within iTunes and Quicktime.

Steps

Drag and drop your file into the window shown above and into the Playlist folder.

Go to the FILE pull down menu and choose Streaming/Exporting Wizard.

Choose Transcode/Save to file and click Next

 

Select the actual file. Click NEXT

 

Check Transcode video and choose the MPEG-4 Video Codec. 

Check Transcode audio and choose MPEG 4 Audio. Leave the bitrate for both alone.

 

 Choose MPEG 4/ MP4, click NEXT

Click on Choose

A drop down will appear. Insert a file name. Do NOT use an file extension. Choose the file or folder where you want to find your file after export. Click Save.

Check the extension that appears after you click Save. It should be .mp4. If not, go back and check your settings so far. Do not check the box for Local playback. This will only slow your export down. Click NEXT.

 

Click Finish.

http://www.macxdvd.com/mac-video-converter-free/
An easier to use piece of software: MacX Video Converter Free Edition
This will allow you to choose the actual use (iphone, ipad, itunes, Music) and it makes the decisions for you! If I didn't already have VLC, I would have only downloaded this software. I am going to use both in the future, depending on the ultimate use.