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There are so many different video formats out there today, but
do you know which format to use when it comes to sharing your video
on the web? The answer all comes down to how you want your viewers
to access the video file, and the video quality you want your movie
to play in. There are two different methods: One is "Download
and Play" format and the other is "Streamable Video"
format.
Download and Play:
This is the traditional method for web video in the formats of MPEG-1,
MPEG-2, and AVI. When viewers would like to see these video files,
they have to first download the entire video, then play it with
their video player application. The video quality of the compressed
file in these formats are pre-determined and not affected by the
Internet connection speed. However, it may take a long time to download
the file itself, depending on the video file size.
Streamable Video:
Video streaming allows you to first download portions of the
video, then play the file while it continues to download or "stream"
to your machine. The great thing about this method is that you no
longer have to wait for the whole video to download before you can
start viewing. However, the video quality depends on your Internet
connection. (Because the streaming software often adjusts the data
rate based on the speed of the Internet connection, sometimes the
program will drop some video frames in order to keep playing the
video.)
The three major streaming video formats are QuickTime (MOV), RealVideo
(RM), and Windows Media (WMV), which can be played on QuickTime
Player, Real Player, and Windows Media Player software respectively.
These three player technologies work on any PC with the proper plug-in
and server. In the following article we will look at these Streamable
Video formats, and show you an example of each.
Note: For QuickTime (MOV) and RealVideo (RM) files, you need to
have the player application on your machine to play these file formats.
As for Windows Media files, you don't need to install an additional
player application if you are using a Windows Operating System.
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QuickTime |
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QuickTime formats have been around for a long time
now. In the past it was often used for making things
like Multimedia discs, and interactive videos. The quality
of QuickTime is excellent, however, the file size is
extremely large; almost the same size as an uncompressed
AVI file format. QuickTime delivers outstanding techniques
for making video for the web. If you often visit Movie
websites, you can find that many movie preview clips
are made in QuickTime format.
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Example using PowerDirector
Pro:
To output your video in QuickTime format, all you have
to do is select the video quality and the type of compression
you would like to have.
On the right, we have a sample clip created in QuickTime.
To view, simply click on image on the right. You can
see that the quality of the video file is in no doubt
better comparing to others, however, the size of the
file is much larger than the other streamable file formats.
Note: To view video in QuickTime format, you need
to have QuickTime player installed on your machine.
Get
QuickTime Player
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Duration: 15 sec
File Size: 4.7MB
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RealVideo |
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RealVideo was used early on for Internet Radio, and
it did not cross over into the video compression technology
until 1998, when it successfully launched its web streaming
technology. It soon became one of the most commonly
used video streaming formats on the market. However,
due to limitation from Microsoft ASF, it's current share
in the market has gradually decreased. Yet, you can
still find a lot of TV stations and broadcast channels
still producing programs in RealVideo format.
In general, files compressed in RealVideo format tend
to be very small in file size, which is ideal for putting
them on the web to download. However, the compression
ratio will create a very obvious blurry effect (especially
for video under 128kb data capture rate).
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Example using PowerDirector
Pro:
To output your video file to RealVideo format, you
have to select the video quality, its frame size, compression
rate, because all these factors can affect the file
size of your video clip.
On the right, it's a sample clip created in RealVideo
format. To view, simply click on image on the right.
Note: To view video in Real Video format, you need
to have Real Player application installed on your machine.
Get
RealVideo Player
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Duration: 15 sec
File Size: 3.1MB
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Windows Media |
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Windows Media is arguably the most popular streamable
video format today. It was brought out by Microsoft,
and you do not require an additional video playing application
to view the file (if you are using a Windows Operating
System). The compression rate and video quality of this
format is good. Not only does it offer quality streamable
video over the web, the file size created in Windows
Media format is also relatively small comparing to other
formats.
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Example using PowerDirector
Pro:
To output your video file to Windows Media format,
once you specify the video profile and whether the file
is for Modem connections or High Speed ISDN, the program
will configure the video profile accordingly .
On the right, it's a sample clip created in Windows
Media format. To view, simply click on the image to
the right.
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Duration: 30 sec
File Size: 577 KB
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