With the dawn of the digital age, video has gained a lot of popularity in every domain. This technological upfront has no doubt has brought improvement in video editing but along with improvements, it has also brought a lot of complexities.
With the arrival of a bewildering array of editing formats, shooting and editing got confusing as editors suddenly encountered these video standards that had their own standards and sub standards.
It hampered the work process as different formats changed the rendering process because it took a lot of time to understand the formats. But don’t worry we’ve got this blog for you. Unlock the knowledge about different formats, codecs, containers and other essential concepts related to it.
Why you need to understand different file formats for video editing?
There are multiple reasons which make the understanding of various video formats essential to become an expert of video editing.
- First and foremost, not every video format is compatible with every digital platform when it comes to production and playback. This can create tremendous problems while attempting to input, output, upload, and download necessary files. And that’s why there’s no real “best video format” out there, rather best video formats for doing different things (which this post will help you figure out).
- Secondly, video formats can create big problems because there are simply so many of them. And to make matters even more complicated, a large number of these formats are now largely obsolete.
You need to know in which format your camera is recording the video and how much storage space that video will require. Certain client asks you to deliver a video in a particular format and the better you know about the formats, you can produce work in a more effective way.
New Era of File Formats
Decades back understanding video formats wasn’t necessary because for people the only medium to watch movies is via projector screen or on television set 🙁
But today, the technology has revamped the entire situation. People have different options available today to stream videos and they are taking advantage of all available mediums.
From high end 4K to YouTube, video is streaming everywhere and understanding these different formats can help you in producing the best quality of video 🙂
What is a format? – Understanding Codecs & Containers
If you have actually ever dealt with digital video previously, you’re possibly conscious that there are various kinds of video clip files.
A digital video clip file generally comprises 2 components.
These 2 components are called the “Container” as well as the “Codec.”
The container describes precisely what the real file kind or extension is, for instance, AVI or.MOV.
Currently, within each of these containers, there is a codec which resembles a collection of guidelines that define the particular coding and also setups of exactly how the video clip uses your player. A codec is a layout which is used to organize the data which is stored in a container
A couple of prominent codecs you might have seen previously are DV NTSC, DivX, Sony YUV. There are a lot less video clip file containers compared to codecs, and also each container could have numerous codecs within them.
The majority of the prominent computer system video clip software program is preloaded with numerous of one of the most prominent and also the majority of made use of codec and also container decoders to appropriately playback preferred file formats.
To learn the most efficiently is to join advanced video editing courses from renowned training institutes in Delhi.
Some of the Generally Used File Formats in Video Editing
1. FLV (Flash Video Format)
FLV files are videos that are inscribed by Adobe Flash software program, generally with codecs adhering to the Sorenson Spark or VP6 video clip compression file formats.
They can be played with the help of several third party programs, Adobe Flash Player and many other web browser plugins. It has become one of the most common online video clip checking systems made use of on the internet today.
- As almost all video clip sharing sites such as YouTube stream video clips in Flash, nearly all internet browsers maintain as well as collaborate with the Flash Video clip file layout as well as can play the video easily.
- In addition to being an on the internet video having a look at layout, the Flash Video clip file layout is furthermore specifically exactly what countless video-sharing sites change video as well, from styles that were released by their consumers in something in addition to Flash.
- This is mainly because video clips in the FLV format stay in top quality after compression to a smaller sized file dimension, which implies that the video clips on the internet load swiftly as well as will not invest much time-consuming data transfer.
Some noteworthy individuals of the Flash Video Clip are YouTube, Yahoo! Video, Hulu, MySpace, VEVO etc.
2. AVI (Audio Video Interleave)
It was created by Microsoft and came to public in the year 1992 as a fragment of its Video for Windows modern technology. AVI file format is considered as of the initial video clip layouts.
- As a result of its uncomplicated framework, AVI files could work on some a wide range of systems like Windows, Macintosh, Linux; is in addition sustained by prominent internet browsers.
- AVI files store information that can be encrypted in some different codec’s although the majority of generally with M-JPEG or DivX codecs. It also means that though most of the AVI files may look similar from outside may differ significantly from one another from inside.
3. WMV (Windows Media Video)
Developed by Microsoft, Windows Media Video was created with intent for internet streaming applications, as a contending to RealVideo. It is known for dealing with even more customized web content.
- WMV files are the minutest video clip files over the Internet. It is because their documents total size lessens considerably after compression, which results in small video clip high quality.
- Nevertheless, one benefit of this minimal file size is that it is possibly the only video file format that permits individuals to publish and also share their video clips via the email system.
Being Microsoft software, the Windows Media Player is the principle application that is utilized to play WMV records on the entirety of Microsoft’s Windows operating system, yet there are likewise WMV players accessible for free of cost for the Macintosh operating system.
4. MP4 (Moving Pictures Expert Group 4)
MP4 is a shortened term used for MPEG-4 Part 14, created by the Motion Pictures Specialist Group that was accountable for establishing market requirements relating to digital sound as well as a video clip and also is frequently made use of for sharing video clip files online.
- Initially presented in 1998, the MPEG-4 video design utilizes isolated pressure for sound and video tracks; the video document is packed with MPEG-4 or H.264 video encoding, and the sound record is compacted utilizing AAC compression.
The MP4 file format is additionally an additional exceptional file sharing layout for the Internet; MP4 file dimensions are reasonably small. However, the quality stays high after compression. The MP4 requirement is additionally coming to be a lot more preferred compared to FLV for online video clip sharing, as it works with both online and also mobile browsers and is supported by the brand-new HTML5.
5. MOV (Apple QuickTime Movie)
Created by Apple Company, the QuickTime file format is a most loved kind of video sharing and viewing design among Mac clients and is frequently utilized on the Web, and for saving the film and video documents. As of late, Apple thought of a more current adaptation called QuickTime X, presently accessible on Mac OS X Snow Leopard, Lion and Mountain Lion.
- MOV documents are frequently opened by means of the Apple QuickTime Player for the Mac OS. In any case, MOV documents are not simply restricted to being played on Apple PCs, as there is a free form of the QuickTime Player accessible for the Windows OS among numerous different players.
MOV records are of high caliber and are typically noticeable in file size.
6. 3GP file extension (.3gp)
The 3gp format which is used for both audio and video format was designed as a multimedia format for transmitting audio and video files between 3G cell phones and the internet. It is most commonly used to capture video from your cell phone and place it online.
7) AVCHD (Advanced Video Coding, High Definition)
This file format is developed by Sony and Panasonic combined. It is an HD recording format usually used by camcorders. This file format used the H.264 codec. This format is used by different cameras which makes this a widely used format.
It usually uses the .m2ts file extension. It is a file based format which implies that it can be played or stored on storage devices like SD card
AVCHD is one of the robust and dynamic containers that not only include subtitles, but navigation and slideshows with it.
This file format is perfect for people who are using their own captured footage as it allows you to store your video for hours by using a little data even without sacrificing the visual quality of the video.
The latest addition of this format also supports 3D video.
8) .WEBM
Similar to .WEBM image file, Google created .WEBM to spread video files to a large audience in an effective way. These video files are not high quality video and are relatively smaller in size. YouTube uses this file format.
Which one is the best video format & how to choose it?
Actually, there’s no single file format which can be tagged as the ‘best’ video format. It entirely depends on the requirements of your work, what quality you want or how big your file size should be, can help you decide the best file format for you.
You should select the file format that fulfills all your needs. Besides this, how your videos will be viewed also affect your format selection process.
Let’s understand this by few examples:
- If your viewers will be watching a video over the web, choose a format which is compatible with almost all the browsers. One of the most famous browser compatible formats are : MP4 and WEBM.
- If you are working in an office that majorly uses windows software, then choose a file format that is compatible with Windows system. For ex- You can choose WMV file format.
- If you want to share a video over the internet so that everyone can stream, you’ll need a file format supported by major social media platforms and mobile phones. File formats like MP4, .FLV and .WMV are widely used in this scenario.
How to convert from one video format to another?
There are times when you are working in a certain file format but you want to use another one but don’t know how to do that.
There are several file formats converters available on online platforms which act as a rescue in these times. You can use them either online or can download various file convertor apps to convert your videos.
Author’s Note:
As viewing experiences and platforms evolve, the way in which moving pictures are delivered will continue to evolve and change. New containers and codecs will continue to be produced that will allow for more massive amounts of data to be distributed more quickly and with additional data streams.
Digital industry is very dynamic and changes with a blink of an eye and for an editor it becomes vital to stay updated with the latest trends and changes happening in the industry.
You can join a professional video editing institute to learn about these concepts in detail. Video editing training will not only teach editors to know about all the standard file formats but also make them aware of which are currently in the industry.
Get you enrolled today in our industry oriented video editing and Post Production courses to experience the best! Stay tuned with us for more informative blogs. Till then, keep exploring!
