PPT to video: choose the right workflow in 2026

Start with the format you already have

If your existing .pptx already has the layout and animations you want, Microsoft's documented Create a Video workflow is the direct option. Its export settings include video quality and slide timings, with options for recorded narration and timings where supported. Follow the instructions for your PowerPoint version, then review the exported file. A conversion task should preserve the work you have already approved.

Claude Motion Skills currently creates PPT-style HTML presentations; it does not parse an uploaded .pptx or export an editable PowerPoint file. Consider this route when you want to adapt the content, build a different visual structure, or maintain a presentation as text and project data. If you supply a deck to an assistant, verify that the assistant can actually read its slides and notes. Unreadable charts and images need a separate review.

Documentation: Microsoft Support: turn your PowerPoint presentation into a video · Claude Motion Skills: published CLI workflow and supported outputs

Rewrite the presentation for a viewer who cannot interrupt

A live presentation has a speaker who can pause, answer questions, and skip material. A video needs to make those decisions in advance. Choose the audience and the one decision or idea the video should communicate. Move background detail into narration and keep each slide focused on a point the viewer can understand at a glance. Retain the original sources for numerical claims and quotations.

Suppose you are adapting a fictional three-part onboarding outline: the problem, the process, and the next action. Give each part one page, write the complete spoken explanation, and then estimate how long that explanation needs. For a real company presentation, do not invent a customer quote, success metric, or chart value to make the page look complete. Ask your assistant to flag missing evidence before creating the final draft.

• Plan your first scene sequence

Match the template to the explanation

Browse the presentation collection and inspect the layout rather than selecting by color alone. Academic Argument provides an evidence-led structure; Consulting Storyline emphasizes a recommendation and supporting material. Editorial, geometric, and ink-inspired families offer different pacing and visual hierarchy. Select an implemented PPT style returned by the CLI so the draft and renderer agree on the layout.

Use landscape 16:9 when the presentation needs generous horizontal reading space. Choose portrait 9:16 for a mobile-first sequence, then shorten the visible copy for the narrower canvas. A vertical adaptation is an editorial decision, not simply a crop. Compare the same outline in two styles during planning, then finish one version before producing variants. This makes changes to evidence and wording easier to track.

cm-skills styles --mode ppt --json

Documentation: Claude Motion Skills: published CLI workflow and supported outputs

• View Academic Argument
• View Consulting Storyline
• Browse presentation styles

Create pages with separate visible copy and narration

Install the CLI from the getting-started page, then run doctor and connect your account with setup. Use your own Claude Code or Codex session to write draft.json from the material you have reviewed. Set mode to ppt, choose a ppt-prefixed style ID returned by styles, and include title, format, script, and scenes. Each scene needs its own title, body, narration, and duration.

PPT scenes support one to 120 seconds per page, with one to forty scenes per project. Use that range to fit your actual explanation, rather than filling every page with a fixed amount of text. The page body is the visible summary; narration contains the full spoken explanation. Creating a new project requires an active Creator or Studio subscription. Check current checkout and account availability before planning a time-sensitive delivery.

cm-skills doctor
cm-skills setup --agent both
cm-skills compose --input draft.json --out onboarding-deck

Documentation: Claude Motion Skills: published CLI workflow and supported outputs

• Follow the installation guide
• Review plans and service availability

Review the presentation before turning it into video

Composition creates index.html, project.json, and narration.md. Start a private local preview and inspect every page. The generated PPT presentation has previous and next controls, a speaker-notes control, and playback controls. Keyboard arrows also move between pages. Read the visible text and the narration together: they should support the same point without requiring the viewer to read a paragraph while hearing a different explanation.

Check page boundaries, contrast, line breaks, names, and units. Read the narration aloud and adjust durations where a page advances too early. A narration script is text; it does not automatically become an audio track. Treat voice generation as a separate service whose current availability must be verified. You can finish the visual presentation and timing review before deciding how to produce the final soundtrack.

cm-skills preview --project onboarding-deck --port 4173

Documentation: Claude Motion Skills: published CLI workflow and supported outputs

• Understand HTML presentation delivery
• Plan narration and music

Render, inspect, and keep the editable source

Render the reviewed project with the local CLI to a new MP4 file. Node.js 22 or newer, Chrome, and FFmpeg are the relevant local requirements. The CLI uses pinned HyperFrames 0.8.145; its first render may download that engine through npm. Existing downloaded projects remain available for preview and rendering even when a subscription is no longer active.

Watch the finished video at its intended viewing size and verify the whole sequence. Check that the final page has enough time to read and that any attached audio ends cleanly. Keep the project directory and narration with the approved source material so a future correction can be rebuilt. If you share the HTML presentation through the service, remember that shared pages are silent visuals: local voice and music tracks are not uploaded. Use the MP4 when audio must travel with the presentation.

cm-skills render --project onboarding-deck --out onboarding-final.mp4 --fps 30

Documentation: Claude Motion Skills: published CLI workflow and supported outputs

• See motion graphics examples
• Learn the HTML to video workflow