Here we take a look at some of the more popular video file formats currently in use today:
AVI - This video format often uses the DivX encoding in order to achieve a high level of compression resulting in a lower file size which, when run at a high enough bitrate, can be viewed without any significant artifacts. While popular through most of the early 2000's, this format has recently been lost in popularity due to the introduction of other high quality video formats. Although the format is not widely used anymore, it is still playable by many DVD players, game system, and almost every video software.
MPEG2 - This video format is still widely used today and is one of the first high quality video formats. Though the compression on the format is not as high as the AVI format and the files cannot be played in as wide a selection of video devices or software as an unprocessed file, it enjoys its popularity because it is the format used for DVD video and in digital broadcasts. However, straight MPEG2 files can only be played on a handful of devices including computers, some smart phones, and some handhelds.
H.264 - This video format has recently made large strides towards becoming a popular video format because of it's compression and image quality. It is also one of the few formats that can support HD content. However, because of it's compression algorithm, playing an H.264 file often requires significant computational power, leaving the format out of reach of all non-computer devices. This format can not natively be played by any video software, but is the video encoding used for Blu-Rays.
MPEG4 - This video format is not as widely popular as the H.264 video encoding, but follows the exact same standard as the H.264 because they are maintained together. Due to this, there is no real technical difference between the formats.
.MOV - This format is the primary format of the Quicktime video players and, although popular in the 90s, is hardly ever used now in favor of other formats. Some video software may play these, but most hardware and software programs will not.
View a list of popular video file formats with information on opening, editing and converting to other formats.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jay_Hayes
No comments:
Post a Comment