PowerPoint 2010 will not play mp4 files - need to install Quicktime

Out of the box, PowerPoint 2010 will not play mp4 files or even files that have been converted to AVI that may still contain MP4 codecs.  The relatively simple solution is to install Apple Quicktime.  Even though you're able to play MP4 videos through Windows Media Player (without Quicktime installed), PowerPoint still won't play the videos.  After installing Quicktime (which no longer installs with iTunes), the videos played normally.

As per Microsoft, the best format for inserting videos into PowerpPoint 2010 is WMV.

Embedding video into a Powerpoint

I already know how to embed an audio file into a Powerpoint (see previous blog entry) - but I had never needed to put video into a Powerpoint until today. I wasn't successful in making this work right - but it seems sound. Here are instructions for embedding a video into Powerpoint:

–Save video or video segment to your computer
–View > Toolbars > Control Toolbox
–Click on More Controls (hammer and wrench icon)
–Scroll down to Windows Media Player
–Draw a box that will become the image below
–Right click on the media player > Select properties
–Click on the empty cell next to “Custom”
–Browse for your video > Click OK
–In slideshow mode, you will be able to play the video embedded with controls like rewind, fast forward, sound, etc.
–You can also right click to open more menu controls, like View > Full Screen

Inserting sounds and media into PowerPoints

By default, all files over 100 KB are linked and not embedded. To increase the limit to greater than 100 KB:

Tools -> Options -> General Tab

You cannot embed MP3 files, only WAV, AU, and AIFF files.