Videos are a more adaptive and attractive medium to educate, entertain and inform the end viewers. But have you ever dived deep into the matter of how these videos were made available to stream online? Since the boost in the demand for the video, there is a necessity to make every format supportive of different operating systems and different devices. Every video content has chosen different types of formats. Let us understand what are the key highlights of every format.
What Are Video File Formats?
Codec and container are two crucial components of video files. File containers are those that store video, audio, subtitles, and other metadata. Moreover, the codec encodes and decodes the audio, video, and other multimedia data. The video codec encodes, compresses, and decodes the file, while the audio codec does all but only for the audio part. Video formats make it all easy to stream the video over the internet. Some of the common video files are listed below and choose whichever suits and fulfills the requirements of your video content.
Common Video File Formats And Containers
There are a number of file formats that are used in the video streaming market. Some have advantages over other formats and the streamers should choose according to their demand.
MP4
MP4 is one of the earliest arrivals in the arena of video file formats which was introduced in 2001. Most of the online platforms and various devices support MP4. This format can be used to store video, audio, images, and even text. Moreover, it is the best suit for all those who want to provide high-quality video files that too in smaller file sizes.
MOV
Designed by Apple, MOV is among the popular video file formats that support the QuickTime player. This file contains video, subtitle, audio, and timecodes including several other media types. It is compatible with Mac and Windows too. This format takes significantly more memory in your computer.
WMV
WMW video format is a widely used media player for Windows. Designed by Microsoft, this format provides smaller file sizes while giving a better compression than the MP4 files. This made it thrive in the world of video streaming. Although the file format is not compatible with Apple devices, users can get Windows Media Player for their Mac and iPhone.
FLV
Used by Adobe Flash Players, FLV is the most versatile and popular video file format. This is a format that supports all browsers and video platforms. It is indeed a good format for online video streaming on platforms like YouTube. These file formats are smaller in size making them downloadable quickly.
AVI
Introduced by Microsoft in 1992, the AVI file format is still in use. It uses less compression as compared to other video formats, namely MOV or MPEG. This file format can turn into an issue for all those who have limited storage.
AVCHD
Advanced Video Coding High Definition is a great choice for HD playback. It was designed by Sony and Panasonic for high-definition video recording. With the help of H.264/MPEG-4, AVCHD can help you store high-quality video with just a tiny amount of data. Moreover, the latest version, namely the AVCHD 2.0, supports three-dimensional videos as well.
WebM
Structured by Google in 2010, this file format is an open-source file format. WebM is intended to use HTML5. It requires little computer power to compress and then unzip the files. This is made to enable streaming on all of the streaming devices including smartphones, laptops, tablets, and devices like smart TVs.
MKV
This file format incorporates videos, audio, and subtitles in just a single file. Developed to be future proof, these sorts of files will always be updated. The best thing about this format is its ability to support any and every video or audio format. All amalgamations make this format easy to use and highly adaptive.
Conclusion
Choosing the file format should totally rely on what are your requirements in terms of the video file and file size. There are a number of things that one should focus on while choosing the file format, which includes:
- For online delivery of the video, go with a file that is supported by most web browsers. MP4 and WebM are compatible video formats for browsers.
- For home video recordings, one should opt for formats that are more video future-proof. MP4 and AVI formats are good picks for these sorts of videos.
- For all those Windows applications, go with any sorts of formats that are more Windows-friendly. WMV is a good choice for these sorts of videos.
- Go with the choice that is more apt and fulfills the needs of video delivery.
This is all we have for you now. We will continue to bring such content to educate and inform everyone out there