How to Play DJI Phantom 4 4K Videos on iPhone/iPad?

The Phantom 4 from DJI is capable of shooting 4K videos in MP4, MOV (MPEG-4 AVC/H.264) format. When the shooting is completed, you may wish to open and play it on Apple device like iPhone or iPad. However, as some guys reflect that it’s hard to open and play DJI Phantom 4 4K on iPhone/iPad:

“The issue I’m having here, is most of the Phantom 4 4K recording settings I’m using do not play on the iPad, so they can also not be edited. I should be able to plug the SD card into the iPad, upload the clips, and immediately watch them, but I can’t..What's the matter?"

I believe a lot of DJI Phantom 4 users have met the same problem above. Before giving the solution, let’s find out the reason to the problem.

Can iPhone or iPad handle DJI Phantom 4 4K Videos?

Actually, you can play 4K resolution video on iPhone 5SE, iPhone 6S/6S Plus, iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus and iPhone 8. For those people who try to view compatible 4K video with the previous version of iPhone such as iPhone 5/5S/4/4S or iPad Mini 3/2, iPad 4/3/2 or iPad Air, your iPhone or iPad will automatically down conversion 4K to 1080p. The down conversion main depends on which the video player you are using on your iPhone or iPad, different play will generate with different results.

If the player you use to play 4K video on iPad or iPhone models that lack the ability to downscale 4K video to 1080p with good quality, it would be much ideal for you to directly view 1080p or compress 4K to 1080p for smooth viewing experience with those non 4K-capable iPhone/iPad models.

What 4K videos supported by iPhone/iPad?

If you are luck to use iPhone 5SE/6S/6S Plus/7/7 Plus or iPad Pro/Air 2/Mini 4, it does not mean that you will play any 4K video on them with no problem. Always make sure that the 4K video meet the following strict standards:
H.264 video up to 4K, 30 frames per second, High Profile level 4.2 with AACLC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio or Dolby Audio up to 1008 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo or multichannel audio, in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats

DJI Phantom 4 4K video specification

Container format: MP4, MOV
Compress Codec: MPEG-4 AVC/H.264
Video Resolution and frame rate: 3840×2160 (4K) 24 / 25 / 30p ; UHD: 4096×2160 (4K) 24 / 25p
Video bit rate: 60Mbps

From above listed information, we can see that although the 4K video recorded with DJI Phantom 4 are using with iPhone/iPad compatible H.264 codec and MOV/MP4 container, however, you will encounter other playback issue due to the unsupported frame rate, bit rate, sample rate, channels issues, etc.

Convert and Compress DJI Phantom 4 4K for iPhone, iPad Playback

If our iOS devices refuse to open and play the 4K videos shooted by Phantom 4, you can take advantage of a DJI Phantom 4 to iOS devices video converter. Here, Pavtube Video Converter for Mac is highly recommended to help you convert Phantom 4 4K video to iOS devices compatible videos without losing its original quality. It allows you to freely adjust the video bitrate, frame rate, video resolution, etc as you want. And it is surely in the support of compressing 4K videos to 1080p faultlessly. Plus, this video converter enables you to transcode DJI Phantom 4 videos to any format MP4, MOV, WMV, FLV, MPG, AVI, MKV… as you need. Its built-in video editor will allow you to edit the DJI Phantom 4 4k video before the conversion.

If you are running on Mac OS, Pavtube Video Converter for Mac is your best choice, as it has perfect compatibility with the new Mac operation system – macOS High Sierra.

For Windows users, Pavtube Video Converter is the alternative choice.

Guide: Convert and Compress DJI Phantom 4 4K Video for Playing on All iPhone/iPad Models?

Step 1. Load DJI Phantom 4K Videos

Click the button “File” to add JI Phantom 4 4K videos (or directly drag and drop your files) to the Converter.

Tips: When the DJI Phantom 4 4K videos are loaded to the Mac Pavtube Video Converter, you can view the videos from the Preview window. Simply select an item and click the “Play” button. When the video is playing, you are allowed to take snapshoot as well.

Step 2: Choose output format

From "Format" drop-down list, choose the formats that you want to output for later use. For compatibility consideration, it is ideal for you to choose "HD Video" > "H.264 HD Video (*.mp4)" as output file format. Or you can choose the customized profiles from iPhone, iPad list.

Step 3. Customize DJI Phantom 4 4K video files

Click “Settings” icon, open “Profile Settings” window to adjust video size, bit rate, frame rate, sample rate and audio channels, etc. If you are using the previous iPhone/iPad model, make sure to change the output file resolution as “1920*1080″ or “1080*720".

If you try to play DJI Phantom 4 4K video on iPhone 5SE/6S/6S Plus/7/Plus/8 or iPad Pro/Air 2/Mini 4, it's better for you to output those iPhone/iPad models playable 4K video from “Common Video” > “H.264 High Profile Video(*.mp4)”. Then, click “Settings” to set the output video codec as “H.264″, audio codec as “aac”, video frame rate as “30fps”, audio sample rate as 48000hz, audio bit rate as 160000bps to make them fit with iPhone/iPad 4K settings. If you choose to output to stereo audio or Dolby Audio, please set audio samplebit rate as 1008000bps and sample rate as 48000Hz.

Step 4. Start Converting Phantom 4K Videos

After all settings, click the “Convert” button to convert DJI Phantom 4 4K videos to compatible video files for your iPhone/iPad.

Once finished, click “Open” button to get the converted files, then copy them to iTunes library and sync to your iPhone/iPad. Now you’re able to play the converted DJI Phantom 4 4K Videos on iPhone or iPad anywhere, anytime.

What's Next? Price: $35