How do I transfer a video from an iPhone 3GS to my computer?

Question

I recorded a bunch of video on my iPhone 3GS and want to copy it all to my computer without emailing each one individually to myself (in addition, some of the videos are too big to email). Is there an easy way to do this? (jailbreak options ok as well)

Answer 1

If you're using a Mac:

You can connect via USB and use ImageCapture.app to import them.

The Image Capture app should almost instantly see the iPhone attached, and offer up a dialog like the one in the screencap below. From there you can choose where to download videos or pictures to, whether to download all or make individual selections, and review and modify several other options (e.g whether or not to delete the originals on the iPhone once the import is done).

Once you’ve made you choices and clicked to download, it shows you a status bar and quickly transfers your videos over to the Mac. Or you can just click to select a video and drag it straight into your desired target folder for it. I have tested so far with only 30 – 60 second videos, but these zoomed across to the Mac quite nicely.

That’s it – your video files will be available as .mov files wherever you chose to save them too.

Source

If you're using a PC:

Connect your iPhone via USB. When Windows detects the iPhone, you can open the folder for the iPhone and copy the files to your PC.

Answer 2

I had the same problem for movies above 340 MB, but not for movies a little less than 200 MB.

What worked for me was to do the backup, then look into the Backup folder, usually under something like C:\Documents and Settings\<userName>\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\<backupId>.

Sorting by size, it showed files that had the same size as my huge movies. I copied those files and renamed them with a .mov extension. Those were the movies. And I was able to see them with QuickTime. I then deleted the movie from the iPhone.

Answer 3

I use "MediaTransfer" - it FTPs right off the phone.

Answer 4

The solution for me was to run Google Picasa, which has an Import button to import from Camera. I clicked that, selected the folder, then "Import selected", and the file was on my computer in no time.