I'm going to be adding short video clips to a website. Which is better, avi or mpeg?
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I'm going to be adding short video clips to a website. Which is better, avi or mpeg?
Which is going to be the better quality with the smallest file size?
"avi" is a bit ambiguous... :)
avi files can have various codecs, and different codecs give completely different results.
The format you should choose depends on the content of the videos.
If you want streaming content, you will need Windows Media, RealMedia, or Quicktime. If you want just downloadable content, it's safer to go with MPEG (everyone should have required software to watch an MPEG). AVI files can be compressed with any codec, as Yonatan has said, so there's no way of knowing what that codec is before the file is, at least partially, downloaded. If you will be distributing AVI files, make sure to give a link to an installer for the codec that you're using, and mention it on the page.
In a perfect world, at least ;)
Definitely do that if you use AVI's - lots of firewalls (especially company ones) stop automatic codec downloads :(Quote:
If you will be distributing AVI files, make sure to give a link to an installer for the codec that you're using, and mention it on the page.