Favored video download format

Some browser add-ons allow for download of video as .flv, .mp4, or WebM. Do people here have a preferred format? Why?

 

It's a trade-balance between Video Quality and Size.
It depends on what you are looking for...
I am satisfied with .mp4 (most of the time...)

 

Usually .mp4, as pretty much any video player can play it.

 

I prefer mp4 as I'm a CoreAVC user.

 

Is it? I've found it to be more semantics than anything else.
A site will often consider the .mp4 format to be "HQ", even though there isn't a thing HQ about it.

When I want to download something from YouTube, if the choices are .flv, .mp4, and .flv[35], I'll go with .flv[35] every time-- not that that's necessarily any true "HQ" video, either.

Oftentimes, the designation "HQ" for a website video means only that it's in .mp4 format vs. Flash, and perhaps a little larger aspect ratio, yet the actual view quality between them is nil.

A poorly converted, lousy quality, pixelated video is still a poorly converted, lousy quality, pixelated video, regardless of the format it's rendered into or the tag designation it's given.

The opposite it also true-- any .flv video that's been cleanly and properly converted/uploaded/rendered will look every bit as clear and smooth and "HQ" as any other format.

 

MP4, Flv, avi, mkv etc are the container formats - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Container_format_(digital) and these do not affect quality of the video/audio as some people have mistaken mentioned. Only issues to the end user is what codecs each container supports.

mpeg2, h264 etc are the codecs used which is what affects the quality and size (minus an insignificant amount for the overhead of the container file) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_codec

 

There are Size differences, though...aren't there?

 

Can I be funny and say my favored download format is .prn
Mrk

 

I believe the size difference relates mainly to resolution - a 720p or 1080p video is going to be a significantly larger file (for a given length of time) than a lower res, such as 480p, because it is displaying more pixels per frame. As already mentioned that's no guarantee that it will actually look better, but all things being equal they often do. The difference is usually obvious when I watch the same video in different resolutions.

 

If it's something I'm just going to watch on my computer, then I really don't care, as VLC will play them all. But if it's something I want to burn onto a DVDR, then I'd prefer it come in mpeg, or at least avi so I can easily convert it to mpeg.

I've never been a videophile, because I don't even own an HD, LCD TV. I still use a Sony Trinitron CRT because retro consoles (which I still play a lot) look great on it, and I think regular DVD quality looks good on it too. I never thought it was worth the money to upgrade, but now that PS3's are $250 I may just buy one, in which case it'd be time to get the TV to go with it.

 

Size is dependant on how well designed the encoder is (how good at compressing and efficient the design is, how well optimised the implementation is), desired bitrate and resolution.

Cheers, Nick

 

Bitrate or Resolution, size differences do exist...