If you own a Kindle Fire, you know it’s really easy to watch videos you’ve rented or purchased from Amazon using the video tab on the homepage. So how do you watch your own videos?
Maybe you’ve made a great MP4 video of your vacation with your family or your kid’s soccer game that you want to watch or show off to your family. It’s possible to watch these videos on Kindle Fire, but you’ll need a few things to make it work.
What do you need
First, get a micro USB cable (left cable below). Amazon should have included one in the box but they didn’t. You can buy them cheap online.
You also need videos in the right format. If you can play on your phone, you can probably play on your Kindle Fire as well. I prefer the MP4 format, which works great. If your videos come in a different format, you will need a good converting program. I like it Handbrakeconverts most popular video formats to MP4 easily. There are versions for Windows and Mac.
How to Upload Hot Videos
Connect your Kindle Fire to the computer using your micro USB cable. It will enter a special mode that does not allow you to use Fire until you tap the Disconnect button.
You will see Fire as a storage device in Mac OS X Finder or Windows Explorer.
Drag the video from your computer to the Videos folder on your Fire.
How to Watch Video on Fire?
Instead of using the Videos tab, which gives you access to Amazon Video files, tap the Apps tab. Search for the Gallery app and you’ll find your video there.
things to remember
Kindle Fire only stores 6GB of personal content. It comes with 8GB but uses 2GB for the OS and apps. A movie can take up a GB or more, depending on its length and quality. If you’re encoding video for use only on Fire, you may degrade the video quality a bit as the screen on Fire only supports 1024 x 600 pixels. Never convert your movies to 1080p. 720p will look great, but if you don’t mind lower it a bit more.
Also note that videos purchased from another store, such as iTunes, will not work. Apple places DRM which makes files compatible only with iTunes or iOS devices. You can remove DRM, but this is illegal and we do not recommend it.
USB Image Source: Wikimedia CommonsA remix of Masamic’s footage and Hohum
