Provide option to save source file (to avoid export for long videos being extremely slow)

Steps to reproduce

Record long 30min video and attempt WebM export

Problem

I was exporting a 30min recording and had to eventually abort the WebM export after a couple of hours. Using the inspector I checked the progress bar percentage which appeared to be stuck at 15%.

Attempting mp4 export was slightly better: I could see progress being made but still slowly.

Workaround

While looking around to find an exiting issue I noticed that aperture.js stores temporary files in /var/folders/ and was able to find the video and copy it to my Kaptures folder instantly. Perhaps because this was on APFS?

Feature request

1. Could you provide an instant export option which just copies the recorded video to the target directory?
2. Could you provide more of a hint of expected export duration, or potentially a warning to avoid WebM export on long captures. See: https://github.com/wulkano/kap/issues/437

Platform

Mac OS: 10.13.3 (17D47) Kernel: Darwin 17.4.0 Darwin Kernel Version 17.4.0: Sun Dec 17 09:19:54 PST 2017; root:xnu-4570.41.2~1/RELEASE_X86_64 x86_64 Kap Version: 2.0.0 (2.0.0.681)

[skllcrn]

We’re aiming to add this option to the “File” menu when viewing a recording in the Editor in our next release. The option is technically the same as exporting an MP4 without changes, skipping ffmpeg.

[Jamedjo]

@skllcrn Yes, two issues:

1. Wanting instant access to the original mp4 to avoid unbearable processing times
2. Wanting some kind of warning or time estimate when export will take hours

I’ll open a second issue for the the warning/estimate feature request now.

For long videos I think the best default is to keep the recorded encoding. Container format isn’t too relevant to this, as I think ffmpeg can change container format quite quickly if it doesn’t have to re-encode. Since the original is an H264 encoded mp4 I think using the actual file is perfect. Especially on APFS where copying the file is a free operation.

Exporting to another format isn’t really a workaround for the processing time, as you’d lose out to the unique benefits of WebM.

I initially chose WebM out of habit since it is perfect for embedding online, but in this case container wasn’t too important. Speed was, but neither format was taking a sane amount of time to export.