Mpeg-4 or Quicktime-7 or... ? for maximum Browser compatibility?
by rdomalpalli
on
Aug 26, 2007 at 11:23:51 am
Hi All,
I have a website that I people from different countries visit, and I was wondering what Format to encode in, so that I would get the maximum compatibility.
I have seen that H.264 in Quicktime 7 is the Best. But I am concerned that not everyone will have Quicktime 7. So, I have 2 questions..
1. Does anyone know what percentage of users will be able to view Quicktime 7 Compatibile footage?
2. I believe that Windows users will be able to view Mpeg-4 footage (Please correct me if I'm wrong here). Would you recommend that I put both files (Mpeg-4 and Quicktime-7), and call the first Windows and the other Quicktime-7?
Re: Mpeg-4 or Quicktime-7 or... ? for maximum Browser compatibility? by mike velte on Aug 26, 2007 at 2:23:14 pm
[rdomalpalli]"I was wondering what Format to encode in, so that I would get the maximum compatibility."
Windows Media Video 9 is the most compatible format (about 95%) of the computers can play it.
Mpeg 4 is a container for a myriad of codecs, the most popular is H264 and requires QT 7 to play. QT 7 is just a player.
Unless you are preaching to the choir (us media folks and Mac users), a lot of folks wont be able to watch your video.
Re: Mpeg-4 or Quicktime-7 or... ? for maximum Browser compatibility? by Stan Hirson on Aug 28, 2007 at 2:48:47 am
I have an international video site and I use Flash. I have had no problems with compatibility. The issue, I feel, is bitrate. I keep my videos at 512 kbs. The only people who have problems with this are rural visitors on dial-up and they are becoming fewer and fewer. 512 kbs will keep you in range of DSL.
You can see for yourself how the videos, at full 30fps, appear at http://hestakaup.com. The shorter videos are .swf files and the longer ones are .flv.
Re: Mpeg-4 or Quicktime-7 or... ? for maximum Browser compatibility? by Aharon Rabinowitz on Sep 9, 2007 at 12:08:32 am
Flash is always going to be an ideal soultion from pure numbers perspective- it's on 98% of computers connected to the web - however there have been issues with Flash on the Mac - doesn't always play properly. Especially at high bit rates.
Still, Stan is on the right track because most people can see it. Just to be safe, I always prefer one additional mac friendly format - such as MOV or MP4 using the H.264 codec.
However, recently Adobe announced that it's going to be adding H.264 encoding and decoding into flash - which means that flash (using the H.264 codec which looks great and plays well with the mac) will truly be the ideal single solution for reaching you're audience.
By the way, I cover video compression and the best ways to reach your audinece on my new Creative Cow MAster Series DVD - Internet Killed the Video Star - http://training.creativecow.net/
h264 mpeg4 files not playing on macs, fine on PCs, why? by Shayne Weyker on Nov 13, 2007 at 11:19:09 pm
Trying to follow the above advice I've been encoding stuff to h264 (with ipod compatibility on so I can offer the same file for ipod and web viewing) using adobe adobe media encoder from PPro CS3. Files like this:
Now I'm getting feedback that some mac users can't play the mp4 files adobe media encoder produces, getting a string of garbage text on their screen. It's as if their computer never heard of mp4 file type even though in one case I've been told a user with this problem installed the latest QT player.
I see that QT player has the option to recognize mp4 media or not. But why would any mac user turn this off?
What should I do? Rename the file to .mov? That has the disadvantage that it breaks a few links out there...
Can I make an h264 .mp4 with adobe media encoder that will behave on all reasonably modern macs?
