How to Add Movies to a Kindle Fire

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There are a variety of ways to add and watch movies on your Kindle Fire.
Image Credit: David McNew/Getty Images News/Getty Images

The Kindle Fire functions as an external hard drive when connected to a computer, allowing you to simply drag and drop movies from your desktop to the Kindle Fire device. The Kindle supports video playback in the MP4 format, so you will need to convert your movie if it is in another format. Alternatively, you can add movies to your Kindle Fire directly from the Amazon Instant Video library. With Amazon Instant Video, you can purchase movies or pay a smaller fee to rent movies for a limited amount of time.

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Convert Movies to MP4

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Step 1

Navigate to the Handbrake download page (see Resources for link) to download and install the free, open source Handbrake video conversion software. Handbrake is available on Windows, Mac and Linux computers.

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Step 2

Launch Handbrake after installation is complete.

Step 3

Click "Source," select "Open File" and then double-click the movie file you want to convert to MP4. Handbrake can convert virtually any movie file to MP4 including WMV, AVI, MOV, MPG and more.

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Step 4

Click "Android Tablet" in the "Presets" section of the sidebar.

Step 5

Click "Browse" in the "Destination" section, select the filename and location where you want to save the converted video, click "Save," and then click "Start." The conversion process can take up to an hour, depending on the length of the movie and the speed of your computer processor. Conversion progress will be displayed in Handbrake's status bar and the software will alert you when conversion is complete.

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Transfer Movies to Kindle Fire

Step 1

Connect your Kindle Fire to your computer using the standard Kindle Fire USB cable.

Step 2

Press "Windows-E" to open My Computer on a Windows computer or click the "Finder" icon to open Finder on a Mac.

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Step 3

Double-click the Kindle Fire device in My Computer if you are on Windows or click the Kindle Fire item listed in the devices section of Finder if you are on a Mac.

Step 4

Drag and drop the MP4 movie file from the location it is saved on your computer to the "Video" folder on your Kindle Fire. The transfer process will take a few moments to complete.

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Step 5

Right-click the Kindle Fire listing and select "Eject" after the transfer is complete. The movie will be available for playback from the default Gallery app on your Kindle Fire.

Purchase or Rent Movies from Amazon

Step 1

Tap "Video" on the Kindle Fire homescreen, and then use the search box to find movies you want to watch.

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Step 2

Select the movie you want to watch, and then tap the price button that corresponds to the type of purchase you want to make. Amazon Instant Video allows you to purchase or rent most movies. Renting a movie is obviously cheaper, but the movie will only be viewable once and for a limited amount of time.

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Step 3

Tap "Watch Now" after purchasing or renting the movie to immediately begin playback or tap "Download" if you want to store the video on your Kindle Fire for later viewing. Downloading the video also enables you to watch the movie offline.

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