VideoDetailer - About File Formats

About File Formats

These are briefs on the file formats that may help you make export choices.

MP4

An abbreviation for MPEG-4. It is a compressed file format that can contain videoo, audio and subtitles. Often used for internet downloads and ripping DVDs.

Uses: Often used for internet downloads and ripping DVDs. A good option for playing in browsers.

WEBM

Stores video compressed using VP8 technology and audio compressed using Ogg Vorbis compression. The container format is based on the Matroska container, which stores video in MKV files.

Uses: Likely the most versatile export option. It can be played in a browser, upload to youtube is smaller than mp4, better quality, and supported by almost all modern browsers.

WMV

WMV files use Microsoft's Advanced Systems Format (ASF) container. However, WMV files can also be packed into the Matroska or AVI container format and are more compatible with MKV or AVI files.

Uses: A good option as a format, but it does not play in a browser. Good for DVD. Popular on Windows machines.

GIF (animated)

GIF video is a collection of frames, each coded on its own.
GIF (Graphical Interchange Format) is a lossy image format with soundless video that will loop continuously originally created for web exchange.

Uses: Recommended only for very short movies. File size rapidly escalates and it lacks playback controls. Popular on facebook, but, again, only for short video.

PNG

Portable Network Graphics is a raster-graphics file-format that supports lossless data compression. PNG was developed as an improved, non-patented replacement for Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) while allowing small file sizes.

Uses: For the purpose of Video Detailer, PNG only exports a screenshot from the position of the timeline indicator.