When it comes to video technology, you’ve got about a billion choices to make. What kind of camera should you buy?
Which editing tool is right for you? Sometimes, all these options can lead to all kinds of crazy stress and paranoia. But when your video is all shot and produced, and you’re ready to get it online, the last thing you want to do is make another choice. Unfortunately for you, at the end of the production process comes one of the most important questions of all:
What format or file type of video should I use for the web?
When you click that little floppy disk icon to save your work, you might get a little overwhelmed by the slew of file extensions and abbreviations you find. To help you make a confident decision about how to save your video, here is a short list of common file formats for video, and what you need to know about them:
1) .mp4 is good quality with a small file size, so it’s no wonder YouTube and Vimeo prefer it. Upload .mp4 formats to either of these sites in HD with a bitrate of 5000kbps. On the downside, Windows machines can’t play .mp4 formats without the necessary codecs or a special video player (such as VLC Media Player ), but you only need to worry about that if you want audiences to download your videos. More times than not, this is probably your best option
2) .wmv is good quality with a large file size, which means it takes up more space on a computer, and it doesn’t play natively on Mac machines without outside help.
3.) .mov is high quality with a large file size, but this one doesn’t play on Windows without outside help.
4) .flv is a small file size, but it needs extra steps to bring up the quality. It also doesn’t play natively on most Windows or Mac machines. My conclusion on this one? Nah.
5) .avi is good quality with a small to large file size, and it doesn’t play natively on Macs without help. This used to be a very common format for online training videos, but most people are ditching it for .mp4, as it compresses video better. In my experience, .avi has always beena headache to export correctly and I wouldn’t recommend using it.
I should note that within all of these formats you have settings (such as bitrate and resolution) that can dramatically affect the quality. The descriptions above are what I find the formats to be most commonly used for.
Conclusion: If you’re hoping your audience downloads your video, use two video formats to increase chances of compatibility. Otherwise, stick with something reliable like .mp4 that will play nice with the web-based video players that you should be using in the first place.
