Resources > Web video formats
Which is the best video format for the web?
When choosing animation or best video format for the web, there are so many choices: Windows Media Player, QuickTime, Java, Shockwave, and Real Player.
The fundamental question, from the web designer's point of view, is not so much the quality of the format, but the universal accessibility of your chosen route.
For major movie footage – which uses up a whole load of bandwidth on your server – I recommend embedding the code through a third party, such as YouTube, Google Video, Vimeo or Revver.
However, these free services do come with a compromise, firstly the quality isn't very high, and then there is the hosts brandin and a link away from your site.
Video quality demonstrations
Compare qulaity differences between free video hosting through a service such as YouTube and paid hosting with flash video. View Videos »
Video formats
Your choice of hosting has the biggest impact on quality, but what about accessibility?
Windows Media Player is installed on most PCs, QuickTime is installed on all Macs, but if you want just about everyone to be able to watch your work, it has got to be Flash Player.
Adobe Flash Player is the most universally accessible format for video / animation on the internet, with 98.3% of the market.
