Video uploads for observations

General
1

Hello! I’m pretty new to INaturalist and figuring things as I go. I’m surprised there is no video upload option yet… only pictures and audio. Is this something they are looking at? I love sharing photos but sometimes a video can be so much better…

2

Welcome to the Forum! There is a feature request for videos here and another discussion here. There are some explanations there as to why videos aren’t currently supported. In the meantime, however, you can upload GIFs. There are lots of free GIF generators on the internet.

3

Can you upload GIFs? Whenever I try (Android 1.20.35 (466)) I get the following message:

Error importing photo(s): Can only import photo files with JPG/JPEG/PNG/HEIC/HEIF extensions

4

yes you can; I use https://ezgif.com/video-to-gif (but I do this on desktop, and don’t own an Android, so perhaps it doesn’t work there)

5

thanks - i will replay there

6

Today for example, i saw a pileated woodpecker from a distance. It was screaming loud, so i took a video, as I wasn’t close enough for a pic. The video identifies the area and sound, something that a GIF or audio note can’t both do.

7

You can upload to YouTube and add a link to the observation.

8

I guess they’re not supported on Android. I can’t view GIFs on the app either. I always use desktop.