What is the best video format/codec?

Greeting Video Producers
Please tell me what is the best video format/codec overall? And please list them from best to worse.
MPEG 4
MPEG 2
AVI
DVI
QUICKTIME MOV
WMV
THANK YOU

DVI isn't a format or codec; it is a digital signal protocol used for video display. DVI = Digital Video Interface.
Please define what "best" means in your context ... "best" for what?
WMV is one of the best in terms of viewer compatibility for web video, but it is not any good for DVD delivery.
MPEG-2 is one of the best for broadcast server-based playback and is required for DVD-Video delivery, but it is one of the worst for editing.
MPEG-4 is a more efficient codec than MPEG-2, but isn't as compatible for web delivery as WMV or Flash.
AVI is a container.
MOV is a container.
-DH

Similar Messages

  • HT3290 what is the best video format for iMovie?

    I'm a basic newbe on imac compiuters.  Although I like it the transition is a bit painful.
    I download stuff from my  (cheep) video cameras BUT after closing the oniginal window I can't find the vids OR pictures I just downloaded from the devices.
    I am hsving a difficult time figuring out what is the BEST video promat to record in that can be used in imovie AND final cut pro.
    I'd appreciate any assoistance at this point.
    All tips appreciated,
    :-) Cheers

    iMovie is friendly with .mp4, .mov, .m4v etc video formats. Here this article about iMovie supported video formats may help you.

  • What is the best video format to stream my movies?

    So I was just curious as or what the best video format would be to stream movies from my personal cloud to my device. The reason I ask is because I have the 32GB mode and alas I do not want to copy movies over only to delete them later. Plus I would have access to them on all my devices (PC, windows, and android....soon a Mac mini) currently I have them in the .avi format because it just would not make sense to have four different formats uploaded to ,my four terabyte personal cloud especially when I own hundreds of DVDs. Now I noticed that there is a bit of pixelation on my iPad Air when streaming, my upload speed is like 5mbps and download is close to 25mbps. I have several other devices communicating with my router, but they are inactive..so to say. The connection strength is strong (on my desk next to my bed. Speaking of streaming my movies how do I clear the actual cache (may not be called that on Apple). Thought it was on settings, but alas I was unable to find it.

    As long as your video is transferred via Firewire into a DV AVI type 2 file (I don't know your camera) your edit footable is the best you can get
    If what you want to create is a DVD, you already have Encore bundled with PrPro (I have the CS3 version of both)
    Simply export as DV AVI and give that file to Encore... then tell Encore to use the AUTOMATIC setting when creating the DVD
    Otherwise, work through all of the steps here http://ppro.wikia.com/wiki/Troubleshooting
    If your problem isn't fixed, report back with the DETAILS asked for in the questions at the end of that link

  • What is the best video format to use with Dreamweaver CS5.5

    My client has asked what format to convert their video to before sending it to me to be placed on their homepage. I'm using DreamWeaver CS5.5 with an HTML5 template - trying to steer clear of Flash for this new site. On other sites, I embed videos from their hosting site (YouTube, SchoolTube, etc).
    My question to the forum is what is the best way (and prefered format) now days to insert a video onto a webpage using DreamWeaver CS5.5 and HTML5. I have the Adobe Web Premium package.

    In the chapter on video in Dive Into HTML5 it says this:
    There is no single combination of containers and codecs that works in all HTML5 browsers.
    This is not likely to change in the near future.
    To make your video watchable across all of these devices and platforms, you’re going to need to encode your video more than once.
    And a suggested workflow:
    For maximum compatibility, here’s what your video workflow will look like: 
    Make one version that uses WebM (VP8 + Vorbis).
    Make another version that uses H.264 baseline video and AAC “low complexity” audio in an MP4 container.
    Make another version that uses Theora video and Vorbis audio in an Ogg container.
    Link to all three video files from a single <video> element, and fall back to a Flash-based video player.
    I think that your starting point is to consider your target audience.
    Martin
    http://diveintohtml5.info/video.html

  • What is the best video format for importing into After Effects CS5

    Please look at this video, work in progress.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49_wbdKALQk
    The opening, featuring a ribbon of videos, was created in After Effects, using Digieffects Freeform.
    The  issue is the poor quality of the videos that are featured in the  opening -- compared to the higher quality of videos from the original Premiere  project., which you can see at the end of the clip.
    To create the After Effects project, I exported a series of video clips from Premiere  to mp4.
    Then I imported them into AfterEffects.
    The bottom line, and the purpose of this question, is I am thinking that  MP4 was not the best choice for the Adobe Premiere export.
    What  is the best format to export video from in Premiere Pro CS5 to import  into after effects, or to import into any other editing program,  incuding importing right back into Adobe Premiere, if that is eever  needed.
    AVI?
    MOV
    MP4
    And any other settings that will result with the highest qualiity videos for importing.
    Thanks

    To follow on with Wade's suggestion...
    There are lots of ways to get movies and projects and other things back and forth between After Effects and Premiere Pro. This page outlines them:
    "Working with Premiere Pro and After Effects"
    If you must render and export a movie out of one application to bring it into another, there is a very basic piece of video workflow advice that you need to keep in mind (which applies to _all_ video software, not just After Effects and Premiere Pro):
    If you're creating a movie to be used in the next step of a post-production pipeline, you _never_ want to use a format that does lossy compression. You either use no compression or (preferable) lossless compression. Examples of codecs that provide lossless compression are the Animation codec and PNG codec at the highest quality settings; these can be used in a QuickTime container, for example. Never compress a movie with lossy compression except at the very end of your pipeline, when you're creating the final movie for distribution.
    MP4 (MPEG-4) is a lossy codec. The quality loss is acceptable for the last stage in the pipeline, but it's not acceptable for an intermediate file.
    It seems that you would benefit from reading this and and working your way through this.

  • What is the best video format to export to for use on the web?

    I am looking for a quick anawer.  What is the best format and size setting to use to export a video for use on a web page (I am using DreamWeaver to develop my web site and FCX to creat the movie).  I like the size and quality of the opening video on the Apple home page if anyone knows what that is.

    Use the  http streamimg preset so the movie will be compatible with a range of different devices.
    Russ

  • What is the best video format for a Mac?

    I use my MacBook Pro (Mountain Lion) to project videos to my class. If I'm converting them, what is the best format to use?

    An unwritten standard is MP4,...  avi files are questionably a close second.

  • What's the best video format to export my project to creat a DVD?

    I've made a project in iMovie, using my DV Camcorder and I would like to export it so I can make a DVD. What would be the best video quality when using "export to quicktime"?

    Try "Quicktime to DV Stream". A DV stream matches what you need for making a DVD very well in both resolution and pixel aspect ratio, so it will pass through iDVD with minimal further processing. It still needs to be re-encoded to MPEG-2, but at least the resolution and aspect ratio remain.

  • What is the best video format for logic X

    It used to be that .DV was the way to go. Although the files were huge, it was a much smaller load on the processor because there wasn't any encoding and decoding going on.
    Now LogicX / Mavericks doesn't support .DV anymore. What is the best format. dvcpro?
    Best,
    W

    Don't know if it's the best, but until now I do not have issues with QT H.264 format.
    Cheers!

  • What is the best video format for 50+ year movie storage?

    Objective:  In what video format should I store my family movies on an external drive?  I want these family movies to be viewable by future generations in 50 - 70 years, so what video format / type is recommended?
    Background:  I have an iMac, OS X 10.7.5.  I use IMovie '11, version 9.0.8.  My iMac has an internal DVD player and burner and iDVD is installed.
    I have dozens of family movies (total 80+ hours) dating back nearly 70 years.  All these films have been digitized and I have imported many of them into iMove as events, then I edit them with title pages, transitions, music, etc.  When a "project" is completed (Between 1.5 - 2.0 hours or less) I share the project to iDVD where I burn it to a DVD.  Within iMovie I save each of these projects (on the internal Mac HD, which consumes very little space) and on an external drive I save for each project:
    - a disc image (DVD.img) whose size is about 4.5 GB
    - a copy of the iMovie project, whose size is about 60 MB (the original project is in iMovie, in the Mac internal drive)
    - the original digitized raw movies imported into iMovie as events and are formatted as .mov (these are large size at 8 GB - 20 GB each)
    - the finalized and fully edited iDVD which is formatted as DVD.dvdproj (these are very large size at 20 - 24 GB each)
    As you can see with all these disc images, projects, events and DVD projects stored on my external drive I am at nearly 1 TB of storage, on my way to 1.75 before I comple editing all movies.
    While I manage pretty well the editing my movies within iMovie, and how to create an iDVD project and then burn a DVD, I have no understanding of the technical aspects of the multitude of different movie formats in the market nor of Quick Time and its format.
    I am told that DVDs will only last 10 - 15 years and then begin to deteriorate.  And iMovie '11 won't be arond 50 years from now.  Nor will the current / recent versions of iDVD.  Thus, for posterity:
    1.  In what format should I store my family movies on an external drive so they can be viewed by family members 50 - 70 years from now? (best chance for viewing, since we don't know what formats they will have then)
    2.  How do I convert from what I have (disc image, iMovie project, DVD project) to your recommended format?
    Thank you,
    HDP

    There is no such format for movies or even Photographs. Frankly we can't guarantee the persistence of any format past the next 10 years, not to mind 50 - 70.
    Codecs are being improved and created all the time, and this process will continue. In 50 years time we may still have .mov and .avi files, but the codecs that create the movies within will have changed.
    One thing is reasonably sure: DVD will be as deader than floppy disks are now. Ditto Blue Ray. They're on the way out now, and in 10 years they'll be curiosities.
    So, what's the solution:
    Best I can suggest is to keep your movies on volatile media like Hard Disks (with back ups on other disks, or course). Progress will be evolutionary - as new formats come along there will be the option to migrate older data to these newer formats, and that's the trick. As always, when it comes to migration, the more data available the better the likely result, so keeping your movies in the least compressed versions possible seems a good approach.
    That and a dollar will get you a cup of coffee someplaces, but nowhere fashionable.
    Regards
    TD

  • What is the best video format to export my project in??

    It has been awhile since I took classes on video editing (roughly since 2004), but I have been brushing up my editing skills so I can make a video for my business. I am remembering most of the stuff I learned from a few years ago, but there are a couple things I am not getting right. This is my main problem....
    When I have the video in Premiere (before I export it) the quality looks great, nice and clear, but when I export it the quality looks very poor. I have tried exporting it in WMV and MPG format and both look fairly bad...the WMV is a little better but not much. There are so many different format options when you are exporting, I have no idea what would be the best quality. Can anyone help me with this? It seems like its a matter of matching up the right format settings, but I am just getting confused when I try to figure this out. I used a Panasonic PV-GS300 Mini DV camera for all this footage, so Im sure its not going to be amazing, but I think it should be clearer than what it is. I really appreciate the help! I can show you the video quality if that helps, just let me know. Thank you,
    Andrew

    As long as your video is transferred via Firewire into a DV AVI type 2 file (I don't know your camera) your edit footable is the best you can get
    If what you want to create is a DVD, you already have Encore bundled with PrPro (I have the CS3 version of both)
    Simply export as DV AVI and give that file to Encore... then tell Encore to use the AUTOMATIC setting when creating the DVD
    Otherwise, work through all of the steps here http://ppro.wikia.com/wiki/Troubleshooting
    If your problem isn't fixed, report back with the DETAILS asked for in the questions at the end of that link

  • What is the best video format to edit??

    I have been working with some .wmv files which I just found out are not that great to work with, and could be why CS3 keeps crashing >_<
    I've seen a list of supported formats but I want to know from someone who has experience, what file type overall is the best to work with??
    Thanks for your time (:

    Craig,
    I'll give you the still formats, and possibly the P2 (remember, we're talking CS3 here), but .MOV can be so very many things, and many cause problems, that I'm not sure that I'd go there, on this thread. I was *thinking* video, and just did not give consideration to the stills formats. Is P2 cool in CS3? If so, then you "got me," and I'll fold.
    Let's see your old poker face...
    Hunt

  • What is the "best" video format to import into Aftereffects (for keylight plugin)

    Hello All,
    I
    have various choices in Adobe Premiere (CS4) for exporting.
    The top choices seem to be
    Microsoft AVI
    Avi uncompressed (this i assume is much better than just Microsoft AVI -- for greencreen keylight work?)
    And Quicktime.
    So I assume my best choices would be Quicktime or AVI Uncompressed.
    Any reason to choose Quicktime over AVI uncompressed?  Or visa versa?
    Thanks
    Rowby

    The best starts with the camera and recording system. Any system that gives you 4:2:2 color at 10 bit as original at a high data rate is best. Well almost best. Best is 4:4:4 color at 32bit, but you must have a pile of cash to capture this way.
    The worst modern acquisition formats are the mpeg systems used by phones and some digital still cameras. For cameras that independent film makers can afford, let's say under $10K, I'd say that the best, meaning highest color depth and least compression goes something like this. There may be some room for debate on the order of the  Panasonic and Sony P2/XDCAM but the new AVC-Intra format is, for now, at the top:
    Panasonic AVC-Intra (the replacement for P2)
    Sony XDCAM and HDCAM SR (new generation)
    Panasonic P2 DVCPRO
    HDV
    DVC Pro 100 SD
    DVC Pro 50 SD
    AVCHD (though this is a HD format I've put it below sd formats because of compression)
    DV
    I've left off analogue formats because they require specialized capture cards. I also left off the Red and the Canon and Nikon still cameras that capture HD because the Red is too expensive for the list and the still cameras use a compression scheme that I haven't played with yet. I think that the Canon 5D Mark II may produce footage that will key quite well but don't know where to put it in the list.
    Once you have the original footage you can either work with the native formats or transcode to your favorite lossless format. I prefer Animation Codec Quicktime because it is universally available to and simple to transfer between platforms. Also good are sequential tiff or even png formats. Many folks use jpg compressed Quicktimes. I don't know many pros that use avi's because uncompressed are so huge and the compressed avi's are pretty messy.
    For the production pipeline to keep working you almost always have to stray from the native codecs because they do not support alpha channels. If you choose to work with P2 (MXF) files, which AE CS4 handles just fine, then you will have to render to a codec that supports alpha channels or render separate alpha channels to bring your footage into a NLE or Flash and with transparency preserved.
    I hope that answers your question. You can't easily fix a poor quality original by simply transcoding to a lossless format.

  • What is the best video format/size for the iPad Air?

    I'm using Xillisoft Ultimate Video Converter. I'd like to know what format/type to use for best quality. It has different iPad profiles. I'd just like to know which would be best.
    Thanks!

    Hi Rod,
    That link is from the Captivate help file:
    You could also find this documented in the help file link:
    http://helpx.adobe.com/pdf/captivate_reference.pdf
    Look under the topic "Unsupported objects in HTML5 output".
    Thanks!

  • What's the best video format for DVD burning?

    I need a recomendation; I've been turning some video files into mpeg4's for burning onto DVD. The files look fairly decent, but I'm wondering if AVI or DV or something else would look better. Any suggestions?

    Hi Severian,
    iM works internally (as the camcorder) with dv as compressor; that is highest quality possible with iM.
    that can directly exported to iDVD (which will convert that directly into mpeg2)
    any "in between" conversion, esp, into lossy formats as any mpeg-codec (which comes in many flavors as 1/2/4/h263/h264/...) means a dramatic loss of quality! the mp4 looks nice on your Mac, after second convcersion into a lossy format it will ... nogood on TV.
    don't do that, don't fumble the workflow, let the apps do their jobs.... just hit "iDVD" in iM... Boom!Done....

Maybe you are looking for