Add video or audio to your books in iBooks Author

Learn about working with video and audio in iBooks Author, supported formats, and video encryption.

Use audio and video in Media widgets

There are two ways to add audio or video to your book as a Media widget:

• Drag video from the Media Browser or Finder into your book.

• Add a Media widget from Widgets in the toolbar, then drag your media into the widget.

Using iBooks Author 2.0 and later, you can import audio or video files that are supported by QuickTime, except for files that contain Digital Rights Management (DRM) encryption. iBooks Author optimizes your media files for performance across devices. Files that are already sufficiently compressed won't be re-optimized.

If you have a Paid Books Account and choose to use DRM protection in your book, video and audio in Media widgets and Keynote widgets will be DRM-protected when your book is available in the Book Store in Apple Books.

Use audio and video in Keynote widgets

If you use audio and video in a Keynote widget, iBooks Author treats the files in the Keynote presentation as if the audio and video files were dragged directly into your book or a Media widget.

If you choose to use DRM protection in your book, video and audio in Media widgets and Keynote widgets will be DRM-protected when your book is available in the Book Store.

Use audio and video in HTML widgets

iBooks Author doesn't optimize video or audio files in HTML widgets. You will need to prepare video and audio for HTML widgets manually.

• For video, use one of the following formats in an mp4 file:

  • H.264 video: Up to 720p, 60 frames per second, High Profile level 4.2 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 kbps, 48 kHz, stereo audio. Video shared to file from iMovie 10 using the HD 720p option will use these settings.

  • MPEG-4 video: Up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 x 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 kbps per channel, 48 kHz, stereo audio.

• For audio, use AAC (8 to 320 Kbps, 48 kHz stereo) with an .m4a file extension.

• You can't use media that has .m4v or .m4p file extensions.

Video and audio in HTML widgets aren't DRM protected.