iPad Supported TV and Video formats - Videos that are naturally played by iPad

The original iPad/iPad 1st Gen

1. H.264 video up to 720p, 30 frames per second, Main Profile level 3.1 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps per channel, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats;
2. MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats;
3. Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) up to 35 Mbps, 1280 by 720 pixels, 30 frames per second, audio in ulaw, PCM stereo audio in .avi file format

iPad 2/The 2nd Gen iPad

1. Video formats supported: H.264 video up to 1080p, 30 frames per second, High Profile level 4.1 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps per channel, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) up to 35 Mbps, 1280 by 720 pixels, 30 frames per second, audio in ulaw, PCM stereo audio in .avi file format
2. AirPlay Mirroring to Apple TV support at 720p
3. Video mirroring and video out support: Up to 1080p with Apple Digital AV Adapter or Apple VGA Adapter (adapters sold separately)
4. Video out support at 576p and 480p with Apple Component AV Cable; 576i and 480i with Apple Composite AV Cable (cables sold separately)

iPad 1 vs. iPad 2: the iPad 2 supports video mirroring. With HDMI cable iPad 2 outputs video to HDTV or projectors up to 1080p.

iPad 3/The new iPad

1. Video formats supported: H.264 video up to 1080p, 30 frames per second, High Profile level 4.1 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps per channel, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) up to 35 Mbps, 1280 by 720 pixels, 30 frames per second, audio in ulaw, PCM stereo audio in .avi file format.
2. AirPlay Mirroring to Apple TV (2nd and 3rd generation) at 720p
3. AirPlay video streaming to Apple TV (3rd generation) at up to 1080p and Apple TV (2nd generation) at up to 720p
4. Video mirroring and video out support: Up to 1080p with Apple Digital AV Adapter or Apple VGA Adapter (adapters sold separately)
5. Video out support at 576i and 480i with Apple Composite AV Cable (cable sold separately)

Videos in supported can be added to iTunes and then synced to iPad. MKV, AVI, M2TS and other formats must be converted to .mp4 or .m4v format so that the iPad can play them naturally. The best video format supported by iPad is H.264 .mp4 video. You can get an iPhone Video Converter to do the conversion job.

Copy Videos to iPad from Computer and Camera

Sync Local Movies to iPad with iTunes
If you’d like to watch the movies on the road when Wi-Fi is not available, then you can copy the movies from computer to iPad. To do this, you need iTunes and the USB connection cable that come with your iPad.

Syncing with iTunes ? how to sync movies from iTunes to the iPad?

iTunes can sync your music, movies, TV shows, podcasts, and iTunes U content to an iPhone, iPad, or iPod. If you plan to buy an iPad for watching movies, you’d better get 32GB or 64GB model, since a 2 hour SD movie is about 1.5 GB, and a 2 hour HD movie is about 4 GB. Movies and TV shows purchased from iTunes store are all naturally supported by iPad. You can sync them from iTunes. Your DVD rips, camera footage and self-made films must be added to iTunes library before you can sync them to iPad.

Adding local contents on your computer to iTunes


Import Recordings and Photos to iPad from Camera
The USB cable comes with your camera/camcorder does not fit the dock connector port at the bottom of the iPad. You can either copy camera shootings & photos to computer and then sync to iPad; or use Apple Camera Connection Kit ($29) to connect iPad with your camera/memory card.

[How-to] Copy Photos and Videos from Camera to iPad- Sync Camera with iPad

See if your Camera is supported by iPad and Camera Connection Kit

Convert incompatible videos, DVDs and even Blu-rays to iTunes
When iTunes does not import a video, it means the video format is not supported. To get the incompatible videos like MKV, WMV, MTS, TS, TiVo, MPG into iTunes, you need a Video Converter. Further more, you may rip DVD and even Blu-rays to iTunes as well.

Pavtube Tools for conversion:
Video Converter
DVD Ripper
Blu-ray Ripper
Blu-ray Video Converter Ultimate - a discounted bundle of the above 3 that saves 45%.


Conversion guides:
Play 1080p VOB WMV AVI AVCHD MKV movies on new iPad 3 with Full HD quality
DVD to the new iPad 3 ? best video settings for iPad 3 DVD ripping
Blu-ray to the new iPad 3- rip 1080p Blu-ray movies to play on iPad 3

Stream Video from Computer to iPad
When you're stay at home with iPad connected to Wi-Fi/home network, enjoying movies on iPad can be much easier - instead of copying movies to iPad, you can let the computer streaming movies to iPad wirelessly.


It’s pretty straight-forward to setup Home Sharing on your computer and iPhone 5 to have the device play iTunes videos and music. But there’s a limitation – it works with only iTunes libarary only. AVI, WMV, MKV and various other video formats should be converted to MP4/M4V if you want to add them to iTunes for streaming. If you have third-party streaming media server like AirVideo installed, it is also possible to stream MKV and AVI videos to iPad/iPhone. The guide below shows you both way.

How do you stream MKV/AVI/MP4/MPG/WMV/DVD to iPad and iPhone 5? - Home sharing vs. Air Video

Playing iPad Video to a Bigger Screen like HDTV or Projector

Take Advantage with AirPlay for Video Streaming
Sometimes you might wanna watch movies on a bigger screen like HDTV. There are more than 1 way for you to go. If you own both iPad and Apple TV ($99), the AirPlay feature is very handy of use - it requires just one click to stream the iPad movies and music to Apple TV, which is connected to your TV. AirPlay lets you stream videos, music, and photos wirelessly to your HDTV. Dolby Digital 5.1 audio in some movies that can not be played by iPad would play just nicely when you use AirPlay and have your AV receiver to do the job.



Quick Tutorial: Stream New iPad 3 movies to HDTV via AirPlay


Use HDMI Connection for 1:1 Mirroring
In case that you don't own an Apple TV, an alternative is the Apple Digital A/V adapter($39), which mirrors exactly what you see on iPad or iPhone 4S so that everyone in the room can enjoy it on your widescreen TV, video projection screen, or other HDMI-compatible display. This will create a 1:1 mirroring of the iPad screen - whatever you do on the iPad will be displayed on the bigger screen.



Tip: Because the iPad's screen has a different aspect ratio than an HDTV screen, the iPad's display shows centered with the edges blacked out on 16:9 HDTV.

How to Mirror your new iPad/iPad 2 Screen on HDTV or Projector via HDMI connection?

iPad and Dolby Digital 5.1 sound- How to have iPad play movies with AC-3 6 channels audio?

No, that did not help me, is it a app to install?

Hi frenchman, the thread is a collection of guides pertaining watching movies on iPad - what do you want to do with your iPad specifically?