Streaming Video Formats

Streaming video has to be specially formatted. This usually involves converting video files from a standard format like AVI or MPEG and saving it in a streaming video format. Conversion can be done with specialized streaming video software.

There are currently five different formats used for streaming video. They all are similar in terms of video quality, but some are more popular than others. This is because the end user must have the proper video streaming software installed on his or her computer. Using a more popular format needs having more potential viewers for your streaming video.

Streaming Video Software

Flash is the most popular streaming video format. The flash format has been widely accepted by Internet users because it has many uses besides video streaming software. It can also be used in a wide range of applications from games to multimedia and it is easy to install.

Apple QuickTime and RealMedia are down near the bottom of streaming video formats - at least in terms of popularity. This is probably due to the more involved process of installing their video streaming software and the fact that their free versions are cumbersome and hard to find.

Windows media video streaming software also enjoys a strong saturation because it is included with the Windows operating system. Watch out though - if you use the latest Windows format for streaming video you may be excluding users who still have Windows 98 on their machines.

Another streaming video software format worth looking at is MP4. Since this format is supported by several media players (including QuickTime and Windows) it gives you acceptable coverage. It also offers an advantage in terms of file size, since the MP4 format offers better video quality at smaller file sizes and the other for formats.

Streaming Video Compression

One of the things that make streaming video possible is compression. This reduces the size of the video file so that less data has to be transmitted over the Internet.

Video files are compressed with software called a codec (COmpression/DECompression). The codec encodes the streaming video file with information about the method of compression. A compatible codec must be installed on the viewing computer in order to decompress the video file to a viewable format.

Without the proper streaming video software codec on your computer you won't be able to watch the streaming video. Fortunately, codecs are free and easily found on the Internet. Some media players will even identify the required codec and locate a source for downloading.