A client of ours held a webinar using GoTo Meeting, and was unaware that there is a checkbox in the GoTo preferences that, by default, makes the resulting videos incompatible with world standards. Our client’s GoTo Meeting video could be played on her laptop, but could not be opened anywhere else; not with Windows Media Player, Quicktime, MPEG players, etc. It could not be opened by Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premier, nor other edit softwares. Neither Microsoft certified personnel, Apple certified personnel, nor coders and video editors with decades of experience could use the videos.
Someone had to spend time/money researching the GoTo Video problem (which may also be an issue with Webex, Ring Central or other webinar videos – we haven’t explored their video export issues).
My research shows that GoTo uses a proprietary codec, incompatible with the major standards. To create a Windows Media compatible file (which is compatible with most other players) you need to drill down into GoTo Meeting’s preferences. You need to manually switch the settings to Windows Media Player instead of “Transcode.” Windows and Mac have learned to play nice. GoTo and the video editing world do not play nice.
Here is a video which explains you video options:
http://support.citrixonline.com/en_US/meeting/video/G2MV00074
From the video we learn:
• Click the GoTo symbol, “usually” in the lower right corner of your Wintel screen.
• Select preferences.
• Find the Category list
• Choose Recording
• Click Convert to Windows Media Player file
However, if you’ve already created an unusable video, here are instructions on how to remove the codec: https://glenndcitrix.wordpress.com/2012/02/10/3-ways-to-remove-the-gotomeeting-codec-from-your-recording/ and here is a link telling you that it’s easy: http://support.citrixonline.com/en_US/Meeting/help_files/G2M040018?title=Transcoding+Wizard
Good luck with this. I tried to undo the transcoding, and I couldn’t even get their software to open. Further, I was reminded of why I personally work on a Mac – while working in Windows, I downloaded a software that promised to transcode the GoTo video. Oops. I ended up with pop-ups and viruses and malware (oh my); so much, so thick, so deep, that AdAware had to instruct me to download no less than three other anti-malware and virus softwares to rid our poor little Wintel machine of all the unwanted intrusions. That alone took hours.
On the other hand, our editor, armed with the above information, was able to figure it out. It is possible. But I ended up using ScreenFlow to simply re-record the video. That method was simply easier and faster.
As someone who has lived through the Microsoft/Apple/Adobe wars, I have a low regard for companies that create compatibility issues for clients. But there is probably a justification for GoTo’s codec; it probably creates a video of “good enough” quality for long, extended online use. Windows and Mac, of course, are busy trying to conquer the world with amazing quality. That’s not GoTo’s purpose. But still, it would be a kinder thing if they made the choice more central: “Do you want to record your session?” Yes/No “Do you want your video to be compatible with anyone anywhere else in the universe besides your guests?” Yes/No.
Something like that might put it in the proper perspective, and save users and their vendors a huge amount of time, money and frustration.