In today’s day and age, video marketing is essential to promoting any business effectively. Navigating the world of video codecs and containers can be difficult for a novice videographer. This handy guide should help keep you from confusing different file formats in the future.
What is a Video Container?
A video container, also known as a wrapper format, is a file format that’s used to describe how data and metadata coexist in a computer file. When it comes to video container formats, knowing the difference between the many available options is crucial. Certain video container formats only work with certain programs or apps and have very unique purposes.
There are three universal digital video formats everyone working with video production and editing should know: AVI, MOV and MP4.
AVI: The OG Video Container
Audio Video Interleave, or AVI, was a container format first developed by Microsoft in the early 1990s. In the 2000s, the format was replaced by WMV, Windows Media Video, but both continue to dominate most video content on the internet. AVI and WMV both produce less compression than other video formats. This creates a higher-quality picture but takes up more space on your computer. AVI and WMV file formats are compatible with Mac and Windows operating systems. However, they do not allow users to adjust aspect ratios easily.
MOV: The Hardy Video Container
MOV files are Apple’s mirror of the AVI format. MOV and QT formats are designed to work with QuickTime player, a multimedia framework originally developed by Apple. MOV and QT formats were originally designed to accommodate feature-length films, hence the similarity between the filename “mov” and the word “movie.” Both MOV and QT are compatible with Windows and Mac operating systems. MOV and QT files use multimedia tracks to separate different types of information, including text, video and audio, which makes them easy to manipulate.
MP4: The Flexible Video Container
MP4, or MPEG-4 files, are among the most versatile video containers available. Not only does MP4 store audio and video, it also stores subtitles and still images. However, MP4 files have notably lower quality than most other video formats.
All in all, different video containers serve very different purposes. AVI and MOV files are easy to work with because of their compatibility with different operating systems, while MP4 files take up less space on your computer because of their smaller size.
