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Can you embed audio and video in a pdf document?

by yourreviewer
26 replies
Hello folks,
I was wondering if you can make an audio or a video play in a pdf document?

Thanks,
Dan
#audio #document #embed #pdf #video
  • Profile picture of the author mywebwork
    Hi Dan

    I'm surprised that fellow Warrior Josh Anderson didn't respond to your post - he described doing exactly what you want to do on a site he published a couple of years ago.

    How to Add Video and Audio to a PDF document

    You'll need Adobe Acrobat to do this, it's a bit expensive but Adobe does have a free trial on their site.

    Adobe - Adobe Acrobat Pro: Get a free trial


    Bill
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    • Profile picture of the author Marty S
      It's true that it can be done, but practically speaking that can be a large file for downloading. I would rather have a live link to another video page online from within the PDF, especially if there is going to be a lot of downloads.

      If you are planning on having multiple videos in the PDF, I would say forget about it altogether.
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      • Profile picture of the author Josh Anderson
        Originally Posted by Marty S View Post

        It's true that it can be done, but practically speaking that can be a large file for downloading. I would rather have a live link to another video page online from within the PDF, especially if there is going to be a lot of downloads.

        If you are planning on having multiple videos in the PDF, I would say forget about it altogether.
        When you embed the media in a pdf it does not have to be attached to it. It can be remotely hosted.

        It's no different than embedding it in a webpage.
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        • Profile picture of the author Kezz
          Originally Posted by Josh Anderson View Post

          When you embed the media in a pdf it does not have to be attached to it. It can be remotely hosted.

          It's no different than embedding it in a webpage.
          Do you know if it would it in turn be possible to protect those videos? Eg. have some kind of connection to a membership site, or some other kind of purchase verification?
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  • Profile picture of the author yourreviewer
    Thanks folks. That link was very useful.
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  • Profile picture of the author sparky.ebiz
    I heard recently that the most recent version of Nitro PDF Pro @ $99 could also do embeded audio and video but I can't swear to it because I do not own a copy. If this is true it sure would be nice to save $200 (Adobe Acrobat Pro = $299)
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  • Profile picture of the author astaga
    Yes, you can. As of last year, Adobe released Acrobat Ver 9 which is needed for multimedia support on PDF pages.
    I'm sure the other PDF solution vendors would have release support for multimedia by now too.
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    • Profile picture of the author Intrepreneur
      Wow this is amazing, pity about how big the file would be, but you could always break it up into different parts. I could see thise being a massive time saver with my current project.
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  • Profile picture of the author NetRevolutionInc
    You learn something EVERY day, thanks for the post!
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  • Profile picture of the author Invitation1
    Im trying to upload audio but it says im only allowed to upload jpg, jpeg, png, gif, pdf, doc, ppt, odt, pptx, docx. files.
    What should I do?
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    • Profile picture of the author Michelle@work
      Here are some simple instructions which i made my work mates.Attachment 2643
      I couldn't attach the movie & sound to the pictures as the file was too large to upload but all the instructions are there.
      Hope this helps.
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  • Profile picture of the author Josh Anderson
    I don't know. I have not researched it...

    If you need to protect it... don't put it in a pdf. Its easier to protect videos in a membership system... nanacast does it for our publishers. We protect them by ip and key on our end combined with public/private key with s3 accounts.

    We are able to lock down the source urls of embedded videos in our members area s that the url cannot be shared as well as source urls in rss and podcast feeds so that the source url cannot be copied and shared.
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    • Profile picture of the author Sean Kelly
      Here is how you can embed audio and video in your PDF for under $20.
      PDF Printer - Multimedia PDF Converter creates Audio and Video PDFs PdfPrinterPro.com

      Your PDF will only be 90Kb in size because the video is loaded firectly from YouTube.

      Sean
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      • Profile picture of the author mobiusman
        Originally Posted by Sean Kelly View Post

        Here is how you can embed audio and video in your PDF for under $20.
        PDF Printer - Multimedia PDF Converter creates Audio and Video PDFs PdfPrinterPro.com

        Your PDF will only be 90Kb in size because the video is loaded firectly from YouTube.

        Sean
        I just looked at this site and it looks pretty good.
        Will save me $400+.
        Thanks for sharing this Sean.

        Cheers
        David
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        • Profile picture of the author Josh Anderson
          In order to play video direct in a PDF the end user has to click to allow after getting a warning about media that wants to play in the page. That's just the way it is.

          You are likely better off just putting a nice image representing a video in the pdf that says "click to play" and linking that image to an external web page. What is good about that approach is that you then have the full power of the web to deliver your media content with no limitations and using any player you want and fully cross platform compatible.

          Think of all the wasted time and poor user experience generated if you try and go the embedded media route.

          Adobe Acrobat has been able to embed media in PDF documents for half a decade...

          Yet how often do you see that used?

          And this is coming from a guy who published his first "how to put video in a pdf" tutorial in 2006 ;-)

          Originally Posted by robert s View Post

          Hey Craig,

          I have had success to an extent.

          The long and short of it is, yes using a series of methods described below I was able to capture the video but it does not play at all on the MacOSX platform. I have tried on OSX 5.8 Leopard and Snow Leopard 10.6.2

          I upgraded My Xp to the latest build, upgraded the Adobe Acrobat Pro to 9.3.1 Extended and Reader to the latest versions, reinstalled the latest version of Flash and Shockwave on the XP side and upgraded everything to the latest builds on the MacOSX side including Acrobat Pro 9.3.1.

          VIDEO CAPTURE

          These are the steps I took on the Mac Side:
          1. Go to YouTube Copy the Embed Code
          2. Create a basic HTML Page with the Embed Code Placed after the 2nd Body tag and before the "HTML" tag as I was informed by another person.
          3. Made Sure the Video was visible in a preview and playable.
          4. Saved the HTML Page
          5. Opened the HTML Page I created in Firefox to be sure it worked. (Verification of HTML and Embed Tags)

          The ways I have tried to convert the files are as follows:
          MacOSX 6.2.2 Snow Leopard
          6. Opened Acrobat 9 Pro Extended Part of the CS4 Suite
          7. Selected Web Capture, Loaded HTML Page to Convert. NO SUCCESS
          8. Opened The HTML Page I created in Firefox and tried the Print to Adobe Acrobat PDF Function. NO SUCCESS (we have no right click conversion available on OSX)

          Windows XP Latest Build, With Latest Versions of Explorer 8, Firefox & Flash Player
          9. Took The HTML Page I created and Verified on the Mac, Opened it in Firefox for XP. Could be seen and functioned normally, also could be seen in Explorer 8.
          10. Selected the HTML Page on the Desktop and Right Clicked to Convert to ADOBE PDF - Finally "SUCCESS"
          11. Loaded the same HTML Page into Explorer 8 and used the upper right corner Convert To PDF Button and SUCCESS AGAIN converting the Video.

          Now To Test if it Works On The Mac - What I made on XP:
          11. It did not work. You don't see anything at all, if you move the hand around you can see it turn to pointer arrow then you click and it does nothing. Sometimes it says buffering but not always. And I always get an security alert for any files I embed including audio.
          12. Dead PDF Basically.

          Back To XP To Test Copying and Moving Movies in PDF's - Yes it works:
          13. I tested to see if I could copy the video and move it into any other PDF and it did and would play no problem. The only issue is that it would not play on the Mac at all. Dead PDF.
          14. I still can't understand why if both Acrobat programs are the same version on Both Mac & XP why it will not work.

          MacOSX Issues:
          15. So when I take my HTML Page that I create on my mac and try and preview it in Firefox or Safari I get an error, that I have say OK to before it will go to the sites I embedded. Once I agree it works fine.

          16. Here is the error message:
          Safari & Firefox - same message
          "Adobe Flash Player has stopped a potential unsafe Operation.
          The following local application HD/Users/UserName/Desktop/..index.html is trying to communicate with this internet-enables location: s.ytimg.com (WHICH IS THE YOUTUBE.COM SITE FYI*)
          To let the application communicate with the internet, Click Settings or OK."


          Now I did click the settings and it is just the ability for the Flash component to use my Video Camera and Microphone my computer so I always have that set to deny. Maybe I should change that? Have you ever checked to see what your's says? If right click while on a PDF with a Flash Element the window will change to show the settings.



          My Big Problem is that for the project I am working on, I must have it work on both MacOSX systems and Windows Xp Boxes. Any Ideas?



          AUDIO CAPTURE - WORKS on Both Mac & PC
          1. Located an audio file HTTP stream not RTSP. HTTP downloads the file to the local machine while RTSP actually streams like internet radio does.
          2. I opened Acrobat Pro 9.3.1 on MacOSX and used the audio SOUND Tool from the Tools/Multimedia items. I pasted in the URL and indeed it worked just fine.
          3. Opened it in XP Acrobat Pro 9.3.1 and indeed it did work.
          4. I opened a PDF that I created in Acrobat Pro 9.3.1 on Xp on the Mac and that worked as well. It did look funny at first before you click the link then it loads up fine.




          Thank You To Anyone who has ideas and can assist. I really, really do appreciate all the effort.

          I am starting to think that I may need to find a programmer who can hack a plug-in or something for Acrobat as this is just silly.

          All the best,
          Robert
          MacOSX User
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  • Profile picture of the author Simon74
    Hi Dan,

    Have at look at this source Here maybe can help!

    Simon
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    • Profile picture of the author robert s
      Hi Everyone,

      I am trying to use my Mac OSX 10.6.2 Snow Leopard System with Acrobat 9 Pro to embed YouTube Videos and Audio from streaming sites into a PDF to keep the file size low.

      How can I do this?

      In The 9 Pro Version the Multimedia components do not provide any way to link to the source embed codes provided by YouTube or other providers.

      I have tried to Print a PDF from a YouTube Page but it does not capture the video.

      I am trying to create a basic newsletter with some media content that is streamed, I can not embed the acutal footage due to licensing issues.A key need is that I have to be able to design the content and place the media within my design layout.

      Can anyone provide assistance. I also have a Windows Xp Home System running on my Mac with VMware Fusion. I tried to capture a youtube page with the Demo of Acrobat 9 Pro for Xp and it did not work.

      Any assistance would be really appreciated.
      Regards to all,
      Robert
      NY
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  • Profile picture of the author Josh Anderson
    Google is your best friend:

    Searched "youtube in pdf" and...

    Acrobat User Community Forums / Embed Youtube video in PDF
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    • Profile picture of the author robert s
      I read that post to the link you provided and I am the member "creativemind" who replied to the original post. It does not work when I tried to duplicate it and does not work in OSX.
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  • Profile picture of the author craigbrown
    Using Acrobat Pro Extended 9 trillion CS150 blah blah bla, it's easy to insert youtube video links which are playable from within the PDF.

    I did it when I PDF'd the first 25 pages of the epic offline thread, although I used the "create PDF from web page" function

    Here's how to do it manually:

    Using some basic HTML software like MS Front page, create your document just like you would a word document. Check the print preview often to make sure no graphics are being cut off.

    When you get to the point where you want to display the youtube vid, switch to "code" view and paste in the youtube code and tags.

    Switch back to the WYSIWYG view and you should see the youtube vid if you are hooked to the net and if your firewall is not blocking frontpage from connecting.

    Finish writing your document and then "save as webpage" with a convenient name and in a convenient location.

    Open up acrobat pro, go to create PDF from web page. Browse your computer to find the html file you created in Frontpage. Click the button and shortly you should have a PDF file with a live youtube window.

    Using the "crop" function in Acrobat, cut out the date and file name at the top and bottom and save.

    All done.
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    • Profile picture of the author robert s
      Hey Craig,

      I have had success to an extent.

      The long and short of it is, yes using a series of methods described below I was able to capture the video but it does not play at all on the MacOSX platform. I have tried on OSX 5.8 Leopard and Snow Leopard 10.6.2

      I upgraded My Xp to the latest build, upgraded the Adobe Acrobat Pro to 9.3.1 Extended and Reader to the latest versions, reinstalled the latest version of Flash and Shockwave on the XP side and upgraded everything to the latest builds on the MacOSX side including Acrobat Pro 9.3.1.

      VIDEO CAPTURE

      These are the steps I took on the Mac Side:
      1. Go to YouTube Copy the Embed Code
      2. Create a basic HTML Page with the Embed Code Placed after the 2nd Body tag and before the "HTML" tag as I was informed by another person.
      3. Made Sure the Video was visible in a preview and playable.
      4. Saved the HTML Page
      5. Opened the HTML Page I created in Firefox to be sure it worked. (Verification of HTML and Embed Tags)

      The ways I have tried to convert the files are as follows:
      MacOSX 6.2.2 Snow Leopard
      6. Opened Acrobat 9 Pro Extended Part of the CS4 Suite
      7. Selected Web Capture, Loaded HTML Page to Convert. NO SUCCESS
      8. Opened The HTML Page I created in Firefox and tried the Print to Adobe Acrobat PDF Function. NO SUCCESS (we have no right click conversion available on OSX)

      Windows XP Latest Build, With Latest Versions of Explorer 8, Firefox & Flash Player
      9. Took The HTML Page I created and Verified on the Mac, Opened it in Firefox for XP. Could be seen and functioned normally, also could be seen in Explorer 8.
      10. Selected the HTML Page on the Desktop and Right Clicked to Convert to ADOBE PDF - Finally "SUCCESS"
      11. Loaded the same HTML Page into Explorer 8 and used the upper right corner Convert To PDF Button and SUCCESS AGAIN converting the Video.

      Now To Test if it Works On The Mac - What I made on XP:
      11. It did not work. You don't see anything at all, if you move the hand around you can see it turn to pointer arrow then you click and it does nothing. Sometimes it says buffering but not always. And I always get an security alert for any files I embed including audio.
      12. Dead PDF Basically.

      Back To XP To Test Copying and Moving Movies in PDF's - Yes it works:
      13. I tested to see if I could copy the video and move it into any other PDF and it did and would play no problem. The only issue is that it would not play on the Mac at all. Dead PDF.
      14. I still can't understand why if both Acrobat programs are the same version on Both Mac & XP why it will not work.

      MacOSX Issues:
      15. So when I take my HTML Page that I create on my mac and try and preview it in Firefox or Safari I get an error, that I have say OK to before it will go to the sites I embedded. Once I agree it works fine.

      16. Here is the error message:
      Safari & Firefox - same message
      "Adobe Flash Player has stopped a potential unsafe Operation.
      The following local application HD/Users/UserName/Desktop/..index.html is trying to communicate with this internet-enables location: s.ytimg.com (WHICH IS THE YOUTUBE.COM SITE FYI*)
      To let the application communicate with the internet, Click Settings or OK."


      Now I did click the settings and it is just the ability for the Flash component to use my Video Camera and Microphone my computer so I always have that set to deny. Maybe I should change that? Have you ever checked to see what your's says? If right click while on a PDF with a Flash Element the window will change to show the settings.



      My Big Problem is that for the project I am working on, I must have it work on both MacOSX systems and Windows Xp Boxes. Any Ideas?



      AUDIO CAPTURE - WORKS on Both Mac & PC
      1. Located an audio file HTTP stream not RTSP. HTTP downloads the file to the local machine while RTSP actually streams like internet radio does.
      2. I opened Acrobat Pro 9.3.1 on MacOSX and used the audio SOUND Tool from the Tools/Multimedia items. I pasted in the URL and indeed it worked just fine.
      3. Opened it in XP Acrobat Pro 9.3.1 and indeed it did work.
      4. I opened a PDF that I created in Acrobat Pro 9.3.1 on Xp on the Mac and that worked as well. It did look funny at first before you click the link then it loads up fine.




      Thank You To Anyone who has ideas and can assist. I really, really do appreciate all the effort.

      I am starting to think that I may need to find a programmer who can hack a plug-in or something for Acrobat as this is just silly.

      All the best,
      Robert
      MacOSX User
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  • Profile picture of the author digitalmoolah
    I found a way to embed a live streaming youtube video into an Adobe PDF document.

    1. Copy the embed code from youtube
    2. Paste it into an HTML editor and format the way you want
    3. Open in Internet Explorer
    4. Convert the web page to a PDF.
    5. If you intend to insert this video into another document, use the Combine multiple files feature.
    6. If you have the Acrobat Pro Extended version, you can move, resize, and change how the video is displayed on the page.

    Please see my video tutorials on youtube Search for "youtube in PDF"
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  • Profile picture of the author LeRoy56
    I tried many programs that convert Youtube video and save it to my Mac. Most of all I came
    MovieSherlock. This software converts video to audio, is looking for any video with no problems, keeps
    the music automatically to iTunes and I can send it on the iPhone. Takes very little time and very
    convenient. I advise it.
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  • Profile picture of the author misterhu
    This is a bright idea. Thanks for sharing the information. However, I agree with the enormous file size. I mean a regular .pdf file is already large in size so plus a video file or sound file embedded will make it a difficult file to download especially for those with internet connection.
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    • Profile picture of the author Josh Anderson
      In acrobat you can link to the source video externally with an absolute url... so that is not an issue.

      Originally Posted by misterhu View Post

      This is a bright idea. Thanks for sharing the information. However, I agree with the enormous file size. I mean a regular .pdf file is already large in size so plus a video file or sound file embedded will make it a difficult file to download especially for those with internet connection.
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  • Profile picture of the author Amy Carczak
    ...then use an embedded jump link and
    start raking in the affiliate cash
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