2022
am
Understanding 7 Common Video File Formats and Their Purposes Written by: Brandon Harris, Smooth Photo Scanning Services
In today’s digital age, video content has replaced traditional media as the primary way people learn about the world. We find videos on most sites providing instruction, information, and solutions to common problems. Video content’s relevance and impact will only grow as technology advances. More and more videos will be made and distributed online. This makes it essential to understand different video file formats. Read on to learn about the six most common types of video files and their uses.
MP4
Introduced by Apple, MP4 is the most popular video format. Due to its widespread adoption, nearly all high-quality media players are capable of playing MP4 files. You can use the MP4 formats to store images and sounds. It supports the H.264, H.265, and MPEG-4 video and audio codecs.
Furthermore, it can compress high-definition videos down to a manageable size. It also provides lossless compression, ensuring the video’s quality remains the same even after being edited and saved numerous times. In addition, MP4 videos are supported by all major video-sharing platforms, including YouTube and Facebook
FLV
FLV, or the Flash Video file format, is another widely used video format. The Adobe Systems Inc. development team created it. The FLV video format is widely popular because it can be viewed in any web browser so long as the free Adobe Flash Player plugin is installed.
Consequently, FLV video files may be played effortlessly in most browsers. But FLV is not just for the web. Any decent video player can open and play FLV files. It is compatible with the H.264 video codec and the HE-AAC audio compression technology.
MOV
MOV is one of the best types of video files if you’re using an Apple computer and want to save high-quality videos. It was created as Apple’s Quicktime player’s native format. The best part about this format is that it doesn’t skimp on quality. But it comes at a price in terms of storage space as most MOV files are much bigger than MP4s.
After the debut of the Quicktime player for Windows, MOV files became more than simply an Apple-friendly video format. However, this format is still not as popular as MP4 because non-QuickTime players do not support it.
AVI
Audio Video Interleave (AVI) is a really old video format, yet it’s still widely used today. AVI files are ubiquitous because they can playback content encoded using various codecs.
However, AVI files tend to be bulkier compared to more modern video file formats. It’s not ideal for posting online or streaming over the web. But this is the way to go if you need to save the file on your hard drive and value video quality above all else.
WMV
Windows Media Video (WMV) is used for storing and encoding video. Microsoft created WMV as a component of the Windows Media Framework. This file type has been designed specifically for online video streaming services and client software. Consequently, the resulting video files are extremely compact compared to those created by other formats.
WMV formats are often used for emailing videos and sharing them on other platforms when there is a restriction to the size of the video file. However, the smaller file size comes at the expense of quality. Because of this, a WMV video’s quality is inferior to that of other lossless codecs.
MKV
A French non-profit group created Matroska (MKV). The multimedia container format MKV may save music and video streams alongside subtitles. The fact that it is free to use and modify makes this video format quite popular among new media producers.
The versatility and user-friendliness of MKV containers stem from their compatibility with a wide variety of video and audio file types. The format was created so that video files may be updated indefinitely in the future.
WebM
Google initially backed WebM as an alternative to HTML5 video and a new way to share media online. While most reputable video players, including VLC and MPlayer, support this video file format without requiring the installation of extra codecs, it is not supported by Mac OS or Quicktime player.
Understanding Video File Formats Is Key to High-Quality Video Content!
It is essential to pick a video file format that fits the quality standards. Also, remember that it’s not always possible to expect universal support for video formats across all platforms, browsers, and software.
Therefore, you should also consider the kind of player that you would use to watch the videos. Suppose you are struggling to find suitable types of video files for your videos. In that case, consulting a video and slide scanning professional is best to get an expert opinion.
Generally, it is advisable to pick a video format widely supported by web browsers if you plan on sharing it online. In this case, video file formats like MP4 and WEBM are the best choice.
On the other hand, if you create videos at home, pick a high-quality video format with a strong possibility of being usable in the future. Video files of the MP4 or AVI kind work well for this purpose.
My father has been in the document scanning industry for as long as I can remember. I worked for his company Smooth Solutions, Inc. during summer breaks growing up and for a couple years after college. Wanting to venture off on my own, I gained experience in several careers including wholesale seafood sales as well as owning and operating a bakery for several years. When my father approached me with the opportunity to expand upon his already successful business by providing high quality, professional scanning services to the general public, I jumped on board. From personal experience, I recognize how important it is for most people to have their family memorabilia preserved for future generations and I want to be a part of helping others do that.