Sample MP4 Files — Download Test Videos (480p to 1080p, 1 MB to 10 MB)
MPEG-4 Part 14 (H.264, HEVC and AV1 variants) · .mp4 · MIME type video/mp4
Download a sample MP4 file in the size and resolution you need: H.264/AAC clips at 480×270 (1 MB), 640×360 (2 MB), 1280×720 (5 MB) and 1920×1080 (10 MB), a 1080×1920 portrait clip for mobile layouts, and HEVC (H.265) and AV1 encodes of the same 720p clip for codec-support testing. Every file has a faststart MOOV atom, so it streams immediately in a browser.
MP4 with H.264 video and AAC audio is the one combination that plays everywhere — every browser, iOS, Android, smart TVs and every editing application. It is the format to test first, and the format your transcoder should produce for playback.
Download sample MP4 files
| File | Details | Size | Download |
|---|---|---|---|
sample-video-1280x720-av1.mp4 | 1280 × 720 · 10 s · 30 fps · AV1 · AAC audio · 616 kbps | 770 KB | |
sample-video-480x270-1mb.mp4 | 480 × 270 · 10 s · 30 fps · H264 · AAC audio · 765 kbps | 957 KB | |
sample-video-1080x1920-portrait-2mb.mp4 | 1080 × 1920 · 10 s · 30 fps · H264 · AAC audio · 1484 kbps | 1.9 MB | |
sample-video-1280x720-hevc.mp4 | 1280 × 720 · 10 s · 30 fps · HEVC · AAC audio · 1505 kbps | 1.9 MB | |
sample-video-640x360-2mb.mp4 | 640 × 360 · 10 s · 30 fps · H264 · AAC audio · 1536 kbps | 1.9 MB | |
sample-video-1280x720-5mb.mp4 | 1280 × 720 · 20 s · 30 fps · H264 · AAC audio · 1871 kbps | 4.7 MB | |
sample-video-1920x1080-10mb.mp4 | 1920 × 1080 · 30 s · 30 fps · H264 · AAC audio · 2524 kbps | 9.5 MB |
Use these files from the command line or CI
Every URL is stable and CORS-open. Pin the SHA-256 in your test and you will know the moment a fixture changes.
# Download one file curl -O https://pnb-website-bucket.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/samples/videos/mp4/sample-video-1280x720-av1.mp4 # Verify it (SHA-256 is listed for every file above) shasum -a 256 sample-video-1280x720-av1.mp4 # Machine-readable index of every sample file curl https://pnb-website-bucket.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/samples/index.json | jq '.files[] | select(.format=="mp4")'
MP4 format at a glance
| Full name | MPEG-4 Part 14 (H.264, HEVC and AV1 variants) |
|---|---|
| Extensions | .mp4 |
| MIME type | video/mp4 |
| Standard | ISO/IEC 14496-14 (2003) |
| Video codecs here | H.264 High profile; H.265/HEVC (hvc1); AV1 |
| Audio codec | AAC-LC, 96 kbps stereo |
| Frame rate | 30 fps, keyframe every 2 s |
| Streaming | faststart (metadata at file head) |
| Magic bytes | … 66 74 79 70 ("ftyp") at offset 4 |
What people test with sample MP4 files
- HTML5 <video> playback and seeking
- Upload limits (the 10 MB file is a common threshold)
- Thumbnail and poster extraction at a given timecode
- Transcoding pipelines — verify audio sync using the burned-in timecode
- Codec detection: the HEVC file will not play in Chrome on Windows without hardware support; the AV1 file will not play in older Safari
- Portrait/vertical video handling in mobile UIs
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between MP4 and MOV?
They share the same underlying structure (MOV came first, from Apple's QuickTime; MP4 was standardised from it). MP4 is the interoperable version that every device plays; MOV can contain Apple-specific codecs such as ProRes. Our MOV samples use H.264/AAC, so they should play anywhere an MP4 plays.
Which MP4 sample should I use for an upload test?
Use the file just under and just over your limit — for a 5 MB limit, the 2 MB file should succeed and the 5 MB file (which is within a few percent of 5 MB) will show whether your limit is inclusive or exclusive. The exact byte count is listed for every file.
Why does the HEVC file not play in my browser?
HEVC (H.265) is patent-encumbered; Chrome and Edge only play it when the OS provides a hardware decoder, and Firefox does not play it at all. Safari plays it natively. That is precisely why the sample exists — to check your fallback logic.
Are these MP4 files safe to download?
Yes. Every file is generated by our own open script from scratch — nothing is scraped or user-uploaded — and contains no scripts, macros or executables. The SHA-256 of each file is published on this page so you can verify what you received.
Can I use the sample MP4 files commercially?
Yes. They are free for any purpose, including commercial products, test suites, demos and redistribution, with no attribution required. There is nothing to license and no one to ask.
Can I hotlink these files or use them in CI?
Yes. Every link is a stable direct URL over HTTPS with Access-Control-Allow-Origin: * and long cache headers, so curl, wget, fetch() and test runners can pull them directly. A JSON index of every file is linked from each page (see the command-line section).
Related sample files
Testing a file pipeline? We build them.
Uploads, conversions, previews, document processing and media workflows are the kind of production systems Pine & Birch designs and runs for clients — which is why we needed these files in the first place.
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