There are more and more different types of video formats. And each has its peculiarities—the same as what happens to image formats or text documents. Knowing the different video formats is essential to understand their operation, usefulness, and compatibility. The video file type determines its resolution, size, storage capacity, and performance.
To top it off, not all of them work with just any software. Specifying which playback devices work correctly and in what format the video should be saved to move, share and manage it easily is essential.
For all these reasons, we have prepared this article in which you will learn everything about video formats and how to watch movies online in any format. But before that, let us talk about the best video format to watch a film.
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BEST VIDEO FORMATS
As I said, there are more and more types of different video formats. The way of consuming audiovisual content changes over time, and to this add the technological and computer advances that allow us to improve their quality and that they are reproduced in a wide variety of operating systems. In addition, it is becoming easier to work with its editing, administration, and conversion.
Knowing this, we are going to see some of the most common video file types and what uses I would recommend them for:
MP4
Probably considering the pros and cons, the MP4 video format is the best and, therefore, is the most used. The videos you watch will be of high quality, with vivid and sharp colors. It offers authentic and precise images without any distortion.
Historically, it used a MPEG-4 codec (hence the name). However, as we will see later, it is increasingly common to find MP4s encoded with H.265, which is why they offer a very high level of compression (very small files). This allows you to share videos, save, edit, and play them without difficulty.
Why? Well, because of its main advantage, it is fully compatible with most devices and applications. With this type of file, you can stream videos on the Internet, and play them on a mobile phone, a tablet, or practically any consumer device you can think of.
AVI
The AVI video format was one of the first to be developed and is still widely used because it offers many advantages. Like MP4, it works well with most modern players, especially computers.
One of its great limitations is its very large video format. This prevents it from being easily downloaded or streamed. It is ideal for movie and series formats. It uses a wide variety of codecs to design and organize the file data and play in other codecs.
FLV
This video file is handy for publishing multimedia formats over the Internet. First, because its size is very small, it can be shared without difficulty. Among the video formats, it weighs the least.
Second, it can be easily streamed in almost all browsers. It will be rare that some users cannot play a video uploaded in FLV. But it has a limiting feature: it does not work with iOS devices, at least without downloading any specific application or converting the video to one of the other formats mentioned.
H.264
H.264 is a codec format, not a container format, but you might come across a file with this extension, so I’m going to throw it in the bag. Basically, a type of H.264 video file is usually simply an MP4 file encoded with H.264. As we said before, it is a widely used format because it is practically compatible with any browser, program, and operating system, occupies relatively little space, or is streamed with a low internet connection.
It is one of the most modern and ideal video data containers for sharing over the Internet because it is so small, and without sacrificing its high resolution, it guarantees good performance.
MOV
MOV is the video format created by Apple that guarantees the reproduction of videos in high definition. It offers clear, sharp, and precise images. This file is effective for sharing and publishing in online media.
It is compatible with Apple and Windows operating systems and certain players such as Sony and Microsoft consoles. Also, it works well with QuickTime, a multimedia system available in macOS. However, as its understanding is very heavy, it is convenient to use this type of video format if we mainly use it on Apple devices.
WMV
This video format was created by Microsoft Windows and has been developed to be viewed in its player, Windows Media Player. Use Microsoft’s own Codecs.
It ensures a very high level of resolution, reaching 300,000 P. Therefore, they reproduce very clear and sharp images.
Conclusion
You do not have to worry about the format when streaming movies on our webpage. All the films we upload for streaming are of the highest quality compared to what you’ll find on any platform. Visit our website today to stream and watch movies online for free.
