Best Video Formats for Web

Video has long been a powerful tool to attract visitors to the site and an indicator of the resource’s compliance with modern trends. It is equally effectively used in web design, product sections, and content design.

However, when posting videos on social media, users often face the problem of inappropriate size or format. Videos may take up too much space, and may not play on all types of browsers and devices. And not every video amateur understands how some video formats differ from others, what YouTube formats are allowed etc. In this article, you will learn about the features of popular extensions and which one to choose.

The Most Popular Video Formats on the Internet

Multimedia software company Movavi researched which video formats are the most popular. The data shows the frequency of use of formats by users from all over the world and takes into account more than 3 million conversions on a Windows PC and more than 450,000 conversions on the OS X operating system.

Among Windows PC users, one can note a significant predominance of MP4 and AVI formats over all others, which puts them in first and second place with 33% and 24%, respectively.

The MP4 or MPEG-4 container was introduced by the International Organization for Standardization (IOS) in 2001 and has gained success due to its versatility: it can encode both graphic and audio data, is used for streaming video on the Internet, and is supported by most mobile devices, including smartphones, tablets and game consoles.

The AVI container, introduced by Microsoft back in 1992, has been in use for more than 20 years now and is still very popular, despite numerous shortcomings that have long been eliminated in more modern media containers.

MOV (4.41% of the total number of conversions) and WMV (3.97%) are next in the popularity rating for the Windows platform. Closes the top five format VOB (3.67%), used to encode DVD-video.

The Matroska (MKV) container, named after a traditional Russian toy and often used for high-definition (HD) video conversion, is rarely chosen by users of the Movavi video converter – in 1.72% of cases. The more recent WebM and OGV formats, which are compatible with the HTML 5 standard, are even less popular.

The success of MP4 is also confirmed by the statistics of “paired” formats: i.e. from which format to which users most often transfer video files. In the first place is the conversion of AVI files to MP4 (13.96%). The reverse request to convert MP4 to AVI is much rarer (3.85%).

The preferences of Mac users differ from those of PC owners, although MP4 also leads here, and even by a wide margin from other containers. Its share is 58.16%, while the MOV format, developed and promoted by Apple, took second place with almost four times less result at 14.24%. The AVI format is used by Mac drivers 7 times less than by PC owners.

The ubiquitous MP3 predictably topped the audio format rankings on both platforms; second place went to WAV-files. Rounding out the top five are WMA, OGG, and the FLAC format, which provides lossless compression.

It seems that the most important factor influencing the popularity of the video format is its versatility. No wonder – we watch video files not only on computers but also on DVD and Blu-ray players, smartphones, tablets, or directly on Smart TV.

It is for this reason that the rating is dominated by the MPEG-4 standard, which now works on almost all devices. Less attention than before, we pay the size of films, high-speed Internet access allows you to successfully transfer video, which occupies several gigabytes. If you are a blogger or web designer, you probably already know this.

Why Optimize Video

The perception of any format of video content – whether it is a background video on the main page, commercials on a product page in an online store, or royalty-free videos – depends primarily on the playback speed. Users need to get as much information as possible in a short time.

No matter how well the footage is shot, without proper optimization, it will be of little use. If the video takes a long time to load, freezes, or is interrupted by buffering, most visitors will not wait for the full load and leave the site.

Video optimization for the site can be done by compressing the video and converting it to the desired format. In order not to waste precious disk space on the server and maintain good speed, videos are usually hosted on specialized third-party resources, such as YouTube or Vimeo. On the resource itself, only a link to them is put. In this case, the size of the video and its format play an important role. Large files increase the overall page load time, and some third-party resources may refuse to load them at all.

In order for users to have no problems playing a video file, it must be presented in a format that is supported by most devices, browsers, and operating systems.

How to Convert Video Files

Special programs for video compression are called converters or encoders. They can be used in automatic (with recommended settings) or manual mode. The advantage of self-compression is that you can precisely control both the size and quality of the video.

To convert video content yourself using video converter online or desktop converters, you need to know some parameters that you will have to set when processing the video.

• Codecs are programs that convert data to store and transmit media information. Most often, their job is to eliminate redundant staff.
• Keyframes store the modified image and are the base for subsequent frames. The spacing between them determines the final size of the video file. The more of them, the larger the file and the higher its quality.
• Artifacts are pieces of the image that remain when the keyframe is not updated correctly.
• Bitrate – the amount of video stream data per second or its speed. It can be constant or depend on the number of actions in the video.
• Frequency is the number of frames per second. Must remain unchanged after compression, otherwise audio and video streams may become out of sync.
• The extension is the aspect ratio of the frame. If it is not observed, the image will be distorted.

Most programs come with presets so you can choose the right one or adjust the settings manually if you have any specific video requirements. The final file size will depend on the selected video quality, bitrate, and resolution.

Popular video converters are:

• Any Video Converter (AVC) is a free application for Windows and macOS that can convert to over 60 formats (including DivX, MP4, and VOB) and download videos from YouTube and Google.
• Movavi Video Converter (MVC) is a freeware that converts video to different file formats without loss of quality and in 20+ other formats.
• Cloud Convert is an online converter that supports iOS devices and allows you to convert videos to more than 200 formats without installing an application on your computer.
• Video Converter is a free video converter for Android devices with a handy built-in editor.

Conclusion

A high-quality and properly optimized video can become one of the most effective tools for promoting an Internet resource. This content format is gaining popularity among users every year, and the rating of YouTube videos affects the ranking of the site in search engines.

Each of the extensions we have described has its own advantages, otherwise, there would be no point in their existence. But when creating your own video or, for example, choosing a movie to watch, you should rely on two components: the capabilities of the format and its prevalence.

Author bio

Ron Stefanski

Ron Stefanski, once a college professor, has ventured into the realm of online business ownership. With his extensive knowledge and experience, he has assisted a multitude of individuals in building and promoting their successful online businesses. To learn more about Ron Stefanski and his journey, visit OneHourProfessor.com.