In addition to being an online video viewing format, the Flash Video format is also what many video-sharing sites convert videos to, from formats that were uploaded by their users in something other than Flash. As almost all video sharing sites such as Youtube stream videos in Flash, practically all browsers support and are compatible with the Flash Video format and can play the video with ease. Since virtually everyone has the player installed on their browsers, it has become the most common online video viewing platform used on the Web today. They can be played via the Adobe Flash Player, web browser plugins or one of several third party programs. FLV (Flash Video Format)įLV files are videos that are encoded by Adobe Flash software, usually with codecs following the Sorenson Spark or VP6 video compression formats. This means that all AVI files, while they may look similar on the outside, differ substantially from one another on the inside. AVI files stores data that can be encoded in a number of different codec’s, although most commonly with M-JPEG or DivX codecs. Due to it’s simple architecture, AVI files are able to run on a number of different systems like Windows, Macintosh, Linux is also supported by popular web browsers. It is so universally accepted that many people consider it the de facto standard for storing video and audio information on the computer. AVI (Audio Video Interleave)ĭeveloped by Microsoft and introduced to the public in November 1992 as part of its Video for Windows technology, the AVI format is one of the oldest video formats. Some popular types of “containers” are AVI, FLV, WMV, MP4, and MOV. It simply means there is a combination of both audio and video data in a single file to allow for simultaneous audio-with-video playback. A “container” is a collection of files that stores information about the digital file. Some examples of “codecs” are FFMpeg, DivX, XviD, and x264. A “codec” is used to compress and decompress a video file, as there are times where video files are too large and may cause difficulty when trying to download or play the file.

Each file format has its own set of specifics, and today, we’re going to look at 5 of the most common file formats every user will come across when streaming videos on the Web or playing them from the computer itself.Ī normal video file in a digital format is made up of two parts, a “codec” and a “container”. Different file formats do different things, and the right video format for a specific file isn’t necessarily the right one for the others. Note: Please find the updated article at “ Common Video Formats.”īeginning from the home video era up to the most cutting-edge standards of today, video file formats have undergone some major changes.

Viewing wmv files on mac