Animoto is a web application that produces MTV-style videos using the images and music you choose. Produced in a widescreen format, Animoto videos have the visual energy of a music video and the emotional impact of a movie trailer. Best of all, no two videos are ever the same. Ever.

Sharing these videos is easy too. You can easily embed them onto your website and blog or onto social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook. You can also e-mail them to friends and download them to your computer.

The guys at Animoto used to produce shows for MTV, Comedy Central & ABC, study classical music in London, play in rock bands in Seattle and develop software in Japan. They developed a patent-pending, Cinematic Artificial Intelligence that thinks like an actual editor and director. This A.I. makes the same sophisticated editing techniques used in television and in film available to everyone.

Click "Create Video" from the set of buttons in the upper left to begin. Your first decision will be whether to make an Animoto Short (a 30-second video) or a full-length video (extended length video). (Video shorts are free for everyone and you can make as many as you want).

Animoto will then walk you through the three steps required to create a video. 1) Get your images, 2) Get music, and 3) Finalize with details.

Briefly, you need a few software components: a web browser (which we'll assume you've got since you are reading this page), Javascript turned on in your browser and Flash 9. You can check your version here.

Other than that, you'll need images, of course, to make a video.

For the best experience on animoto.com, on both Macs and PCs, we recommend you use Safari. It's incredibly fast, and has impeccable support for web standards. In addition to Safari, Firefox will work well too, though not quite as well (things may take a bit longer, but you'll still have a good experience).

While animoto.com should work in Microsoft's IE6 and IE7 (and please let us know if they don't!), they're unfortunately quite lacking when it comes to support for web standards, as well as modern web development techniques. If you are having difficulties, we suggest upgrading to Safari or Firefox.

Other browsers (Opera, Camino, etc.) have a few known issues but should work fine. Please note that the only browsers we formally support are Safari, Firefox, IE6 and IE7.

On average, it takes 8 minutes to render 30 seconds of video. If you are making a 10-minute video, this can take a while --- even a few hours. We suggest that if you need this for a school assignment or presentation for work, you make your video the day before, to ensure that you have it in time.

Try downsizing large image files before you upload them to make the image upload stage fast, especially if you have a lot of images.

Animoto uses patent-pending technology to analyze your images and everything about the selected music -- its structure, genre, energy, build, rhythm -- before developing a blueprint for the motion design of your video. The remaining time is spent rendering your video, using a giant farm of computer processors to custom-generate 15 new images per second for your final video.

Animoto videos stop either when the music ends or when our engine runs out of images to display. So, make sure your song is long enough to show off all your images and that there are enough images to sustain your song.

For both Animoto Shorts (a free, 30-second video) or full-length videos, 12-20 images will produce about 30-seconds of video. This can vary depending on the song chosen (faster songs display more images than slower songs). If you are making an Animoto Short and you submit more images then can be used in the video, you may find that some of your images did not make it into the final video.

You can also always go back in and add more images or change the soundtrack though with an "Editing Remix" if you aren't satisfied with how your video came out.

Images must be in jpeg or gif formats and no larger than 5MB in size.

Animoto gives you two ways to get your images. You can either UPLOAD them from your computer or have Animoto RETRIEVE them from an online photo management site. We currently support direct image retrieval from Flickr, Facebook, Smugmug, Picasa, and Photobucket.

If you have the choice, we recommend retrieving your images from your online photo manager since they are already downsized for a faster upload. If the photos stored on your computer have a very high resolution (more than 1 MB in size), you may want to downsize them first to reduce upload time if you plan to make videos to share online. We recommend downsizing to no less than 640x426 (or about 50kb per image), and no more than 1024x768 (or about 100kb per image).

If you plan to make videos for DVD or to download onto your computer, it's best to upload images that are at least 1024x768--but still, no need for pics more than 1 or 2 megapixels.

To upload images when you are creating a new video or editing an existing video, click the 'UPLOAD' button in the 'IMAGES' section. Navigate through your computer files to where your digital images are stored. To select multiple files, hold down the 'CTRL' or 'SHIFT' keys while clicking on the files. Upload time will depend on your Internet connection and the file size of each image.

If your pictures are already uploaded to an online photo management site, we recommend RETRIEVING your images since they will already be downsized and will save you significant time. We currently support direct image retrieval from Flickr, Facebook, Smugmug, Picasa, and Photobucket.

Images straight off your digital camera can be 100 times what you actually need for an online video. Although you can upload very high-resolution images, smaller downsized images work just as well and save you significant upload time. You can use simple image-resizing programs to downsize your images to a smaller size. If you have a Mac, we recommend using DroPic! (free). If you have a PC, we recommend using VSO Image Resizer (free). These are easy-to-use tools to help you resize your images to something appropriate for the web. We recommend a size of no less than 640x426 (about 50kb per image), and no more than 1024x768 (about 100kb per image).

If you plan to make videos for DVD or to download onto your computer, it's best to upload images that are at least 1024x768--but still, no need for pics more than 1 or 2 megapixels.

We currently support direct image retrieval from Flickr, Facebook, Smugmug, Picasa, and Photobucket. Unfortunately, Kodak Gallery, Snapfish, and Shutterfly, have a closed system and don't let users access their photos with outside services like Animoto. We hope they do one day. In the meantime, we'll keep working with the folks who have established more open systems and give their users more choice with what to do with their photos.

The spotlight feature allows you to tell Animoto to place special emphasis on certain images when producing the video. You can spotlight as many images as you want. Simply click the thumbnail of the image you want featured to select it (holding CTRL if you want to select more than one), and then click "spotlight".

Beneath the images are buttons that do all these functions. But to save time, you can also highlight the image(s) you'd like to delete and press "D" on your keyboard. To rotate press "R" and to spotlight your images press press "S."

A buddy of ours is left-handed and always complained that, since our rotate button only goes clockwise, he would always have to click it three times to get his images correctly rotated. He complained loudly and annoyingly enough that we finally capitulated and added the ability to hold down the CTRL key while rotating to get them to go counter-clockwise. This feature is codenamed DBV2.

Yes, we are! But since we've got a number of other features that are of a higher priority at the moment, it could take a while.

In the meantime, here's a suggestion: make images that are simply big placards with text on them. You can use pretty much any ol' image editing software to do so, or one as fully featured as Photoshop. Just save it as JPG or GIF and upload it just like any regular image; maybe give it a spotlight for more emphasis.

To choose a music soundtrack when you are CREATING a new video or REMIXING an existing video, click 'UPLOAD' or 'SELECT' in the MUSIC section. To UPLOAD, navigate through your computer files where your digital music is stored. Upload time will depend on your Internet connection and the file size of your song. Typically it will take about 1-2 minutes to upload a 3MB MP3 file with a high-speed internet connection.

Animoto currently accepts any MP3 format. Unfortunately, if you've purchased any music from iTunes and it's in .M4A format, you won't be able to use it with Animoto. Right now, .M4A files can only be used with iTunes and other Apple products. (However, it looks like Apple is starting to make more and more of its music available in MP3 format.)

Yes, you can!

1. Open up the iTunes interface. On the menu toolbar, drop-down the Edit option. Select Preferences... -> Advanced -> Importing. Change the "Import Using" option from "AAC Encoder" (iTunes format) to "MP3 Encoder."

2.Right-click on an AAC encoded music track and select "Covert Selection to MP3." If you purchased the audio file from the iTunes Store (and did not rip it from a pre-existing audio disk), a message will likely display, stating "... could not be converted because protected files cannot be converted to other formats." If this message does not display, you can be on your way - otherwise follow onto the next step.

We only allow one mp3 to be uploaded/song selected from our collection per video. Some users have found ways to mash-up numerous songs into one mp3 file, which works fine so long as the mp3 is less than 10 MB in size and not at all corrupted.

One of the most popular uses of Animoto is when bands, artists, or music labels make their own instant music videos to share with their own music. Some bands even share videos after every gig they play.

You can also use most Creative Commons music which is offered restriction free and at no cost. There are millions of tracks being offered for free from sites that support Creative Commons music like Jamendo, Dmusic, Opsound, Soundclick, and Freesound. (see 'What is Creative Commons music?' below)

If it's not your own music or Creative Commons music, then you'll need to make sure you have permission to use the music you want.

Make sure to take a good look at Animoto's Terms of Service (the binding contract that must be accepted upon registering). We've made the distinction between music that's acceptable for upload and music that's not acceptable for upload as clear as possible.

There is a fast growing number of artists who today are choosing to offer their music for free under Creative Commons licensing, an alternative to the traditional ways that artists are able to get their music out there and heard. Basically, it allows artists to choose what restrictions they'd like to place on each of their songs and many are offered for free to download and can be used for derivative works. Today, millions of music tracks are being offered by services like Jamendo, Dmusic, Opsound, Soundclick, and Freesound under Creative Commons licensing. For more information, go to creativecommons.org.

Our honest opinion is that there is currently a lot of mediocre music to wade through when you're dealing with Creative Commons music. There's a reason that labels exist; you just know you're getting quality tunes when you know an artist is signed up with a good label like Uncommon Trax. But, sometimes, being the first to discover that new tune that no one else has heard of yet is worth all the work. There are dozens of Creative Commons sites out there that are making it easier to find the great stuff. So it's becoming a very popular option for exposure. More and more "well-known" bands are contributing music under Creative Commons licensing.

Many songs start with some dead time or with a build-up that you might not want to include in your ANIMOTO video. With the song Start Point Slider, you can tell us where to start your song. Press 'PLAY' and wait until just the right moment; then press 'PAUSE'. If you are making an Animoto Short and have selected a song from our collection, the Start Point Slider will be disabled since a customized 30-second version of the song has already been edited for you. Nice, huh.

Sometimes, it makes for a great Animoto video when you include a bit of build-up. Since Animoto analyzes what's going on in the song, we recommend choosing a starting point that's just before a chorus or any big moment in the song. Animoto will try to compliment that transitional "moment" with the perfect edit technique and motion design.

On average, it takes 8 minutes to render 30 seconds of a video. This can sometimes take longer (or shorter) depending on how much traffic our site has. The render status page will automatically update to let you know the status of your video's production. When your video is complete, it will automatically replace the status page and be waiting for you to view.

Your final video will also be in your 'MY VIDEOS' collection. You will also be notified by email the very second your video is ready and a direct link to the video will be included. So, feel free to minimize your web browser and go have a pizza pocket during the rendering process if you don't want to wait around. Better yet, produce some more videos.

When your new video is complete, you can find it in your 'MY VIDEOS' inbox along with all the other videos you've created. You will also be notified by email the very second your video is ready and a direct link to the video will be included.

You can find the "REMIX THIS VIDEO" button under each video. Clicking this button will give you the option to ONE-CLICK REMIX or EDITING REMIX your video.

Animoto produces completely unique videos. No two videos are ever the same. ONE-CLICK REMIXING lets you see what else Animoto can come up with using the same images, music, and details a video already has. It sends your project through one more time and produces a whole new video. Whether it's an Animoto Short or full-length video, you can remix as many times as you want and choose your favorite result. Don't worry about losing past versions because each time you remix, Animoto makes a copy of your project and creates a whole new video.

'EDITING REMIX' opens the video project and allows you to add and/or delete images in an existing video, rearrange images, or change the soundtrack. Don't worry about losing past version because each time you REMIX a video, Animoto makes a copy of your project and creates a whole new video.

All Animoto videos are designed to intelligently respond to the genre, structure, rhythm, and energy of your music. By REMIXING the video and using a more mellow tune, your video will be produced to a pace that matches the music. In the future, we will likely release controls that give the user some control over the speed.

All videos that you have created will be in your 'MY VIDEOS' inbox where you can choose to 'PLAY', 'EDIT', or 'DELETE'.

All videos that have been sent to you by friends will be in your 'VIDEOS FROM FRIENDS' inbox where you can choose to 'PLAY' or 'DELETE' videos.

The user who originally created the video and shared it with you has probably deleted it.

To watch your video fullscreen, simply click on the fullscreen video button on the Video Player, the button to the left of the volume control. If nothing happens (or if the video just appears to stop), you probably have a pop-up blocker on. Make sure to allow pop-ups from Animoto.com!

There are several options for sharing a video represented as buttons underneath each video. They include 'SEND VIDEO TO FRIENDS' which sends a link to the video via email to the people you specify and which places the video in their VIDEOS FROM FRIENDS collection. You can also use the 'POST ONLINE' feature which automatically does the work of posting your video to your choice of sites like MySpace, Facebook, and Friendster. You also have access to the video page's embed code so you can include it on any of your other webpages or blogs.

Email it by clicking the 'SEND VIDEO TO FRIENDS' button beneath the video. You will be prompted to enter your friends email address and a message. Animoto will send them an email with a direct link to your video and your message.

Post to MySpace, Facebook, or one of a number of social networking sites by clicking the 'POST ONLINE' button. In most cases, you'll have the option of what section of your page you'd like the video posted to. Or see how to embed a video below.

While watching your video, notice the button beneath it with the "YouTube" logo. It's the 5th from the left. Click it to export your video to YouTube, for all the world to see.

Embed your video by clicking on 'POST ONLINE' and then the 'EMBED CODE' button. Copy the Embed Code that appears in the bottom left corner of the Playback screen and paste it into the HTML code of your website.

At the moment, videos posted to Facebook are stored under the "Posted Items" application, which can be seen in your profile, in the column under your picture. If it is not there, you may have to enable the "Posted Items" application by going here. Click on the "Edit Settings" link next to "Posted Items" and make sure the Profile drop-down says "All my networks and all of my friends".

1. Install the Vodpod Wordpress button by going here.

2. Click on "Install Now" and restart your browser.

3. You should find a new round blue button in your browser tool bar with a 'W'. Whenever you're on a webpage with a video on it (on Animoto or any other site) that you want to include in your Wordpress blog, simply click this Vodpod Wordpress button and a little window will pop up with that video ready to be posted.

4. Fill out your blog's login info, the video info, and click the "Publish" button.

5. That's it! Your Animoto video should now be included as a new entry in your blog.

This feature is not yet implemented. But it's coming soon!

This feature is not yet implemented. But it's coming soon!

Any video made with an All-Access Pass and all full-lengths made with a video credit can be downloaded. Beneath your video, as it plays, is a bunch of buttons. The one that is the 4th from the left is what you need to click to get your mp4 formatted file.

Animoto Shorts are 30-seconds in length and free for everyone. You can produce, remix, and share as many as you'd like.

Full-length videos are extended in length and can be downloaded. The length of a video is determined by the number of images and the music it uses.

The process for making a full-length video is the same as an Animoto Short except that a full-length video requires a full-length video credit. You can see how many full-length videos you have in the upper-right Session Box. Making a full-length video will deduct one credit.

Animoto Shorts are free. You can make, share, and remix as many as you want. Producing a full-length video costs $3 and includes the ability to download the video to your computer. You may buy as many individual full-length video projects as you wish. An All-Access Pass, which allows you to make an unlimited number of full-length videos for one year, costs $30. With an All-Access Pass, you can download any of your videos, whether they're Video Shorts or Full-Length videos.

Animoto will accept images up to 5MB in size for each file, and music up to 10MB in size. We place limits the files because we want to make sure extreme/abusive users don't clog up the system and affect the experience of all our other users.

An All-Access Pass allows you to produce an unlimited number of full-length videos for one year. You can also download any of your videos, whether they're Video Shorts or Full-Length videos. To get an All-Access Pass, click here.

You can get an All-Access Pass for $30. That allows you to produce an unlimited number of full-length videos for one year. You can also download any of your videos, whether they're Video Shorts or Full-Length videos. To get an All-Access Pass, click here.

The main reason we charge has to do with the intensity of our video production process. In order to be able to offer something different from what's out there on the web, namely the type of "high-end" motion design and effects used in TV & film, we actually have to produce from scratch EACH new frame of your Animoto video... and there are 24 frames in each second of video! As you can imagine, this takes massive amounts of processor power, so we unfortunately can't afford to give everything away for free, particularly full-length videos, which really have intense demands on our render system. Fun fact: did you know it takes Pixar Studios 408 hours to render each second of their films using 3000 computers? Makes what we're doing here at Animoto seem pretty whimpy.

To get an All-Access Pass, click here.

When your All-Access Pass expires, you will be notified by email. You can also find out when your All-Access Pass expires by clicking on the 'MY ACCOUNT' in the upper-right Session Box. When your All-Access Pass expires, you will still have full access to all your videos; they will not be deleted.

Animoto Downloads are full-length Animoto videos in a file-format that can be saved to your hard drive and played on your computer. You will need QuickTime to play an Animoto Download. (Hint: If you have iTunes, you already have Quicktime). The file size will be roughly 5 to 6 MBs per minute of video.

Animoto Downloads are available only for full-length videos, that is, unless you have an All-Access Pass. With an All-Access Pass you can download not only you full-length vidoes but Video Shorts as well.

You can upload these videos to YouTube, post them to your blog, load them on you iPod or iPhone, or do whatever you want with them. Most users want to download videos in order to play them when an internet connection is not available. They can come in handy for video projections, class presentations, concerts, weddings, conferences, meetings, and other events.

While Animoto Downloads are at a slightly higher quality than the videos viewed through our site, they are not at a very high-resolution. They look great for all general computer usage though, and can be burned onto a CD, in order to share your videos more readily with others. And while you can also burn Animoto Downloads to DVD, and even play them on your television set, the presentation will not be at the same caliber as DVDs bought in-store. However, we will soon be releasing high-resolution Animoto Downloads (at an upcharge), which will allow your very own Animoto videos to be on par, quality-wise, with DVDs you rent or buy.

Animoto Downloads are being offered at no extra cost for all full-length videos. You will need an full-length video credit or an All-Access Pass to produce a full-length video.

Animoto Downloads are available only for full-length videos, that is, unless you have an All-Access Pass. With an All-Access Pass you can download not only you full-length vidoes but Video Shorts as well.

Click the 'ANIMOTO DOWNLOADS' button beneath the video. Then click 'DOWNLOAD'.

Animoto Downloads are available in .MP4 (H.264) format. You will need QuickTime to play the video.(Hint: If you have iTunes, you already have QuickTime). The file size will be roughly 5 to 6 MBs per minute of video. Animoto Downloads have a resolution of 432x240 and can be expanded to play full screen on your computer. They look great for all general computer usage. They should also pass as decent video projections concerts, wedding, conferences, meetings, and other events. If you're looking for a high-resolution DVD-quality version of your Animoto video, you'll have to wait a few weeks. We have something in the works, but it's hush hush for now.

No time at all. We've done all the work while your video was originally being rendered. Thus, all full-length videos are available for immediate download and will not require any additional time to render. However, older videos made prior to 12/18/07 require a few minutes to convert and re-render into a downloadable format.

Make sure you are using QuickTime to play your video.

If you have a PC:
Choose View > Full Screen or use the keyboard equivalent,
Control-F. Press the 'Esc' key to exit fullscreen mode.

If you have a Mac:
Choose View > Enter Full Screen or use the keyboard equivalent,
Command-F. Press the 'Esc' key to exit fullscreen mode.

Your computer will have you specify where exactly you'd like your downloaded video to be saved after clicking 'DOWNLOAD'. Typically, videos get downloaded to your Desktop or you 'Download's directory. If you can't find your video file, try downloading it again and make sure to note the specified download location.

If you have an All-Access pass, you can download any of your videos. Otherwise, only full-length videos are available for download. If you wish to download a video that's currently a Video Short, you'll first have to convert it to a full-length video and re-render it. To do this, click 'EDITING REMIX' and on the Finalize tab, click the 'FULL-LENGTH' option. Click 'CREATE VIDEO' and upon being re-rendered, your video will be available for download.

Yes. You retain all rights to your content. Animoto assumes no copyright to your material.

Animoto absolutely respects the rights of copyright holders for images and music. Our policy is to respond to any notices of alleged infringement that comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), including removing the content immediately. Animoto reserves the right to terminate your account and video creations in accordance with our Terms of Service.

If you believe that someone else has infringed upon your copyrighted content without your permission, please follow the directions in our DMCA policy.

We'll let you know if we receive a copyright complaint about any of your video content that is hosted on Animoto. We'll give you the opportunity to file a DMCA counter notification as outlined in our Terms of Service.

There are a number of reasons you may not be able to see your video:

The usual culprit is Flash, which you need to have installed. You need version 9 or above and you can check your version here.

The next likely candidate is Javascript, which you may have turned off in your browser. This one will pretty much disable the entire site, though, so it's unlikely you've got it turned off if nothing else is giving you problems.

Lastly, it is possible that another piece of software on your computer, such as a firewall or anti-virus program, is causing an issue. Have you got Norton Firewall, for example? If so, you may need to allow the Flash player to access the external video file by adjusting some settings.

After you have made any of these changes, do a full page refresh (clearing cache) by holding CTRL or SHIFT (different for each system) while pressing the refresh button.

If none of these works, please contact us using the "Got feedback?" button in the corner of this screen. Thanks!

Animoto videos stop either when the music stops or when there are not more images left to display... whichever comes first. So, make sure that there are enough images to sustain your song and that your song is long enough to display all your images. If you are producing an Animoto Short, videos can be up to 30-seconds in length.

Sign in to Animoto again, click "create video" in the upper-left corner, and you will be directed straight to the imaged upload screen right where you left off and any images that have already been uploaded will be there. Click the 'GET MORE' button to continue uploading additional images.

Ahh Leopard...such a beautiful animal, such a beautiful new OS X. If you're having problems uploading, it is because Adobe's Flash player has some incompatibilities with Leopard and you will need to get their newest fix here. If you are experiencing other problems unrelated to the uploader, please let us know through the feedback button!

When uploading your images to Animoto, you can find your images in iPhoto by clicking on Pictures->iPhoto Library->Modified. Unfortunately, iPhoto only stores your photos in batched that you've imported them. It refers to these as "Rolls". Your mac does not keep your photos in albums or sets that you may have created in iPhoto.

The number of images uploaded may exceed the amount of time that the music you've chosen allows. Alternatively, if you're producing an Animoto Short, images that don't fit within the 30-seconds limit will be left out.

All Animoto visuals are designed to intelligently respond to the genre, structure, rhythm, and energy of your music. By REMIXING the video to a more mellow tune, your images will appear at a slower pace. You can also choose to SPOTLIGHT certain images which will place more emphasis on them in the video by featuring them more prominently. Also, we will almost certainly be offering addition user control over speed in the near future.

Head to the contact page for options. We'd love to hear from you and answer any questions that you might have.

You will need QuickTime to play the video. If you have iTunes, you already have Quicktime.

Your computer will have you specify where exactly you'd like your downloaded video to be saved after clicking 'DOWNLOAD'. Typically, videos get downloaded to your Desktop or you 'Downloads' directory. If you can't find your video file, try downloading it again and make sure to note the specified download location.

If you have an All-Access pass, you can download any of your videos. Otherwise, only full-length videos are available for download. If you wish to download a video that's currently a Video Short, you'll first have to convert it to a full-length video and re-render it. To do this, click 'EDITING REMIX' and on the Finalize tab, click the 'FULL-LENGTH' option. Click 'CREATE VIDEO' and upon being re-rendered, your video will be available for download.

To contact us, head to the CONTACT PAGE. We'd love to hear from you and answer any questions that you might have. We promise to get back to you asap.

To contact us, head to the CONTACT PAGE. We'd love to hear your ideas of working with us! We're always open to new ideas.

To contact us, head to the CONTACT PAGE. We'll send you everything you need.

Submit your music at our official Music Submissions site.