What Happens to a Spatial Video in CineX: It Explains the Cost, Then You Decide
The conclusion first: do not convert spatial video with CineX. If you shot spatial video on an iPhone, or hold a file with a second view, CineX does recognise it — but it does not decide for you. At the moment you press Start it asks first: the title reads “This is a spatial video”, and the message reads “Converting keeps a single view only; the sense of depth will be lost.” Choose Convert anyway and it proceeds, producing an ordinary MP4 in which the stereo effect, the second view and the depth data that came with them are not carried over. Choose Cancel and the item stays where it is: no byte is touched, and no conversion is counted.
1. Why it asks first, instead of calling this unsupported
The difference matters in practice. “Unsupported” means the app stops you and says so. CineX takes another path: when it reads a file it looks at the media characteristics of the video tracks, and a track that reports stereo multiview content is recognised — while anything it cannot read is handled as ordinary video. The rule deliberately errs toward missing the sign rather than wrongly refusing a file that could convert. And once it does recognise the content, it does not flatten anything on its own: the irreversible consequence is stated in that moment and you press the button. Whether your own file counts as a spatial one comes down to what the file itself carries: if the stereo multiview information is in there, the app asks; if it is not, it is handled as ordinary video and you are not asked anything extra.
It does not decide for you, and it does not keep quiet: that sentence lands exactly where you press Start.
2. What is actually lost
- The second view. Spatial video is made of two picture streams; the output carries the one treated as the main video track.
- The qualification for stereoscopic playback. System-level playback recognises "this may be viewed in 3D" from the extra data that travels with the file. A regular MP4 has none of it, so the output will not present itself as stereoscopic content on capable hardware.
- Depth and accompanying data. Data tracks do not enter the output.
- The picture itself stays intact and playable: main-view content, duration and sound are all there. You get the 2D version of that footage, not a broken file.
3. When that is precisely what you wanted
If your goal is "make this into a file anyone can open and I do not care about the stereo effect", the behaviour is exactly what you asked for — a 2D MP4 is the most universally openable delivery format there is. What you want to avoid is the other expectation: that converting will "carry the stereoscopic effect to another device so it still plays in 3D". It will not.
4. If you want to keep the spatial effect
Leave the file as it is and watch it on devices and playback paths that support that content. CineX offers no "preserve stereoscopy" conversion mode and has no quality or format switches with which to do it. Its entire design is turning files that will not play into files that will; whether stereoscopic content stays watchable depends on system-level playback, which is not something a different wrapper carries over.
5. The two neighbouring traps: HDR and Dolby Vision
Spatial video is often lumped together with "will HDR survive", but they are separate rules. What happens on the colour side — which path leaves the picture untouched, which re-encodes it, and how the Dolby Vision cases differ — is in Does CineX keep HDR and Dolby Vision. The order of judgement itself (wrapper, then picture codec, then audio) is in Why some videos convert in seconds and others take longer.
The stereoscopic half of a file depends on a system-level playback chain; a fresh container cannot carry it. This page will not pretend to hand you an effect that cannot travel.
6. Limits worth knowing beforehand
- This describes current behaviour; check the result against your own output file. Converting one clip you do not mind losing tells you more than this page does.
- When the sign is read, the app does say it on screen: an alert titled “This is a spatial video”, explaining that converting keeps a single view and that the sense of depth will be lost, with the two choices Convert anyway and Cancel. Files whose characteristics cannot be read are not interrupted that way — they are handled as ordinary video. That is a deliberate trade-off: fewer interruptions, and never a false refusal.
- Large files also need free space: re-encoding the picture peaks under twice the source size, explained in Why video conversion needs extra free space.
- Conversion happens on your device; the video file itself does not need to be handed over somewhere else.
Frequently asked questions
Can I still watch the result in 3D on a headset?
No. The output is an ordinary 2D MP4, and the extra data that qualifies content for stereoscopic playback is not in it.
Will it tell me the file is spatial video?
If the sign is read, yes: the alert titled “This is a spatial video” states that only a single view is kept and the depth is lost, and offers Convert anyway and Cancel. Cancelling leaves the item waiting and does not count against your conversions. When the characteristics cannot be read, it does not ask — such files are handled as ordinary video.
Can it keep only the second view?
There is no such capability and no view-selection switch of any kind. The output carries whichever track is treated as the main picture.
Does converting change the picture quality?
It depends on which path runs. When the picture does not need re-encoding, its pixels are untouched; a full conversion re-encodes it, which is a deliberate recompression. The rules and the paths are in Why some videos convert in seconds and others take longer.
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