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I need a bunch of people to send me videos. What format should I specify?

I need a bunch of people to send me videos. What format should I specify?

My company is soliciting entries for a contest that's kind of like the Jolt awards. Companies are asked to send evidence of what makes them special, including videos.

Asked by: Guest | Views: 384
Total answers/comments: 1
Guest [Entry]

"Formats that are popular and well supported on all platforms:

MPEG1
AVI (Container), XVid or DivX5+ (Video Codec), MP3 (Audio Codec)
MP4 (Container), h264 (Video Codec), AAC (Audio Codec)

MPEG1 should be supported out of the box by everything, but it's outdated and has far inferior quality to the other two.

AVI/XVid is very popular and has great quality, but AFAIK is not supported out of the box by either OS.

MP4/h264 is turning into the de facto standard for internet and HD video, it's supported by Quicktime (which guarantees support for all Macs, plus a good number of Windows users), and support for it is included by default on Windows 7.

I personally would go with MP4, since it offers the best quality, and if someone can't play it you can just say ""install Quicktime"" and send a link to the download page on the Apple website."