Most PowerPoint users know that PowerPoint presentations are usually saved in PPT format. Some of you may have received presentations that can be played directly when you click to open. Those files are in PPS format, namely PowerPoint show. A PPS is just a PPT file with a different file extension that tells PowerPoint opened directly into the slide show view pattern, not the editing view pattern. You can change it by renaming the file extension.

Despite the advantages we can see of a PPS file, there are also many disadvantages of a PPS file:

1. You'll either need MS PowerPoint or the PowerPoint viewer to view these files. So it may be inconvenient for viewing a PPS file.

2. System language could also be a problem, that is, if the language of one presentation is in Japanese, Spanish or some other ones, when viewing it under the English Windows, all the content would become a mess.

3. A PowerPoint show made in PowerPoint2007cannot be viewed under PowerPoint 97-2003, unless you save it as a PowerPoint 97-2003 presentation, but some great features will lose.

Regarding the deficits of PPS mentioned above, you can convert the PowerPoint to flash, turn PowerPoint to PDF, or burn PowerPoint to DVD/video. PDF is ideal for static slide shows, only images and text will be retained. Converting PowerPoint to flash is great for presentations that contain external hyperlinks, linked files, like Word or Excel files. But, so far, no PowerPoint to flash tool can retain all animations in PowerPoint. As to me, I prefer to burn PowerPoint show to DVD movies or convert to video. Below are some main benefits of burning a PPS to DVD:

1. Easy for delivery. After converting PPS to DVD, you do not need to worry the loss of sounds and videos contained in your presentation.

2. By converting PPS to DVD, you can view the PowerPoint presentation with a DVD player or DVD machine. It is great for long time preservation.

3. After converting PPS to DVD, you can give your presentations to your audience without worrying about it being modified without permission.

4. By converting the PPS file to video formats, the file size would be much smaller, and you can also mail it to others conveniently.

Usually there are two ways for us. The free way is to use Windows Movie Maker. But, there is no free lunch in the world. By using Windows Movie Maker, all the animations in the original presentation will be lost after the conversion. Below are the steps of how to do it.

Step1. Save your PowerPoint slide show as "PNG" images.

Step2. Import the pictures to your Windows Movie Maker

Step3. Select all the imported images and add them to Storyboard

Step4. Add video effects to the slides (Optional)

Step5. Save the slide show as Movie File.

In order to get a higher quality, another way to do this is to use some specific PowerPoint to DVD software to help us do this directly. Search "PowerPoint to DVD" in Google, and you will get many advises. Recently, I have experienced 2 PowerPoint burning software.

1. Acoolsoft PPT2DVD

2. Wondershare PPT2DVD

They both are companies that have been dedicating in developing PowerPoint to DVD software. Acoolsoft PPT2DVD is more innovative, while Wondershare PPT2DVD is more sophisticated.

Common characters of these two tools:

• Work smoothly with Microsoft Office 2000/2002/2003/2007 and Vista

• Retain animations, transitions, sound tracks, movie clips and the inner hyperlinks from the original presentation

• Able to create professional look DVD menus

• Burn to DVD/HD-DVD with built-in DVD/CD burning program

• Support batch conversion

Differences:

•Wondershare PPT2DVD allows users to convert PowerPoint presentations to video formats such as WMV, MPEG and AVI, while Acoolsoft PPT2DVD doesn’t.

• The user interface of Acoolsoft PPT2DVD is more intuitive, users can even see the thumbnails of the inputted presentations; Wondershare PPT2DVD’s user interface is designed more focused on step-by step conversion.

Click here to learn more about how to burn PowerPoint to DVD/CD.