Web Video File Formats
They also determine which type of player that the videos will run in.
Players being Windows Media Player, Quick Time, Flash Media Player and Real Time etcetera. However, some video formats can play within several media players.
Web video file formats also use what is known as a codec to encode the compression and decompression of the video, also a codec can determine what player the video is played on.
MPEG (Moving Pictures Expert Group)
MPEG is one of the most popular formats on the World Wide Web. Since MPEG is what is known as a cross-platform format, it is viewable by all the mainstream web browsers.
Some professionals liken the quality of a web video in MPEG format to that of the quality of VHS tape. The high level of compression that allows the video to be of smaller size without losing the quality. This makes it easier for viewers to watch the video no matter what their connection speed is.
The benefit to your company is that you will not suffer a lost sale because the viewer did not want to wait a long time for the video to load and thus moved on to another website.
MPEG has two file extensions and they are filename.mpg and filename.mpeg.
Microsoft AVI Video (AVI)
AVI file format offers you minimal compression and is available for the Windows platform. There are several Windows applications that can play an AVI video file but the most common is Windows Media Player.
While a video file format is basically a codec, AVI itself uses different codecs such as Indeo 3.2, MPEG-4V2, Cinepak and several others. This makes an AVI file format difficult to run because it requires that your customers or clients have that specific codec installed in their media player.
Should a customer or client not have the specific codec that you used when creating your AVI file, they will not be able to play your web video within their media player. The way around this would be to set your web video up to play directly on the web page. This is usually only possible if your web video is embedded in your own web page on your own website.
File extension for Microsoft AVI format is filename.avi.
Apple Quick Time (MOV)
Apple Quick Time is a file format that was developed by Apple and is a widely used format on the Internet. Apple Quick Time videos can be what are known as flattened. The reason for flattening the videos is so that they can be viewed on both a Macintosh and a PC.
While Apple Quick Time can offer higher quality on the images, the file sizes are large. This can pose a problem with loading and bandwidth usage on a website. Depending on how large your video file is and the amount of bandwidth, you are allowed will determine if an Apple Quick Time file format is what you should use.
The fact that is can be viewed by both PC and Mac users mean that you can reach a potentially higher customer/client base.
The format extension for Apple Quick Time is filename.mov
Real Audio/Real Video (RA)
Real Audio/Real Video is another popular video file format on the internet today. The advantage of using Real Audio/Real Video is that it will reduce the frame rate as well as remove unneeded information within each frame. This gives for smaller files that are streaming, which means that the video will play while it is being downloaded.
Most customers/clients already have this codec on their computer so no risk of them not being able to view your web video. This video helps you to reach even more potential customers/clients because it is such a small file that those using dial up can still view your video.
Real Audio/Real Video has two file extensions that are filename.rm or filename.ram.
Shockwave (Flash)
Shockwave was developed by Macromedia and this file format requires that your viewers have an extra component on their computer to be able to play the video. The newest versions of Netscape as well as Internet Explorer come with this component.
Therefore, the only problem you will have with viewers watching your video in this format is if they are running on an older computer with an older browser. In addition, if they are running on another type of browser there maybe is problems if they had not already downloaded the component.
Most places that have Shockwave files will place a link to the free download, the bad thing is a lot of people do not want to go downloading things off a site they are not familiar with. Therefore, it is a 50/50 chance on this angle.
The file extension for Shockwave is filename.swf.
