Cracking the Codec

Digital Video for Beginners

Digital video, especially web-based video, offers exciting potential for new channels of content delivery on the internet. It can, however, present an overwhelming number of choices and options. If you're not sure about what codec to use or what bit-rate is best, or if you have questions about where to host your video or how to make it compatible with mobile devices, then you've come to the right place. We have put together this video guide to help you better understand the challenges and new potential of digital video and to help you make the right decisions for your video content.

Video: "Your Next Project"

Play Videos On Your Website

If you want users to go to your website and then simply be able to watch your video right in their web browser, then you what you want is called: "streaming video".  Streaming video can be put on your website in two different flavors:

 

Embedded via Hosting Provider

This means that you subscribe to a paid (or free) service like YouTube, Vimeo, DailyMotion, BrightCove or one of several other popular streaming providers.  You upload your videos to that provider.  That provider then stores your video and gives you some "code".  You then copy & paste that "code" onto your website and, like magic, the video will appear on your website ready to be played.

PROS

  • It's relatively quick and easy.
  • Most providers have good tools to keep your videos organized.
  • Some providers have tools to help track who watches your videos and for how long.
  • Some providers offer advertising programs you can enroll in which will play advertisements before, during or after your video and can be a source of income.
  • You don't have to worry about having servers that are powerful enough to host video.

CONS

  • Most streaming providers have their own branding around the videos which can't be changed.  So everyone will know what provider you are using.
  • The better streaming providers usually require a monthly membership fee.
  • The design of your website may not match well with the design of the video player itself that the provider plays your video in.
  • Typically, streaming providers do not provide an option to download videos.  Which means that users can not download a video to watch later, instead, they must be hooked up to the internet to be able to play the video.

Our File Recommendation: 
For embedded video via a Hosting Provider, you can typically get away with a wide range of file types because streaming providers will usually re-encode the videos on their servers anyway.  That said, you can always find the "best" file types for any streaming provider somewhere on their website or in the documentation they give you when you subscribe.   Quicktime H.264 files are a great looking file with a relatively small file size and are supported by most hosting providers.

Test File Specifications:

  • File Type: Quicktime (.mov)
  • Codec: H.264
  • Aspect Ratio: 16x9
  • Pixel Size: 640x360
  • Bit Rate: 1.8 Mbps
  • Frame Order: Progressive

Right Click Here to download the Test File

Self Hosted

This means that you put the video files on your own server(s), and when users come to your site, their web browser connects to your server(s) and plays the video files.  This works in a similar fashion as YouTube, Vimeo, DailyMotion with one big difference: you must install and manage the technical and logistical aspect of the videos playing on your site.

PROS

  • You have complete control over the look and design of you video player.
  • You do not have to subscribe to any paid streaming provider services.
  • Your self sufficiency and branding become apparent since there is no streaming provider branding on your player design.
  • Since you're developing the video player yourself, you can include an option for users to download the video to their local computer.

CONS

  • You have to have the tools and technical expertise to support hosted video.
  • You can't easily enroll in any advertising programs to generate income.
  • You must have a robust and fast server(s) infrastructure to carry the workload of streaming video.

Our File Recommendation: 
For Self Hosted video, we usually would work with your IT personnel to decide what the best file is depending on how they intend to support streaming video on their servers.  Flash Video, Windows Media, Quicktime and MPEG-4 are all formats that are typical for self hosted video.

Test File Specifications:

  • File Type: Flash (.flv)
  • Codec: On2 VP6
  • Aspect Ratio: 16x9
  • Pixel Size: 640x360
  • Bit Rate: 1.8 Mbps
  • Frame Order: Progressive

Right Click Here to download the Test File

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Live Presentations

Whether on a large tradeshow floor, a sales pitch in a conference room, or on a mobile device while at lunch with a perspective client... video can be a powerful tool to communicate your message.  The best file type for these types of videos generally breaks down into three categories:

Tradeshow or Large Screen Presentation

You have a large screen, or even several of them, and want to play your video at the highest possible quality.  For this application, we typically work with whomever is responsible for the technical set up of the screens.  Are the screens being sent the video from a DVD player?  A computer?  If a computer, will it be a Mac or a PC?  Once these questions are answered we can provide a file that's optimized for that set up.  Playback from a computer or laptop is likely going to offer you the least expense and the highest quality.  A DVD used to be the old standard, however, a regular DVD can not play back High Definition video.  If you want High Definition from a DVD, then you must create a Blu-ray DVD instead of a regular DVD, which can be very expensive to create.  We recommend going the computer route.

Our File Recommendations:
For tradeshow or large presentations, we recommend playing either Quicktime or Windows Media Player files from a laptop or computer.  These can even be fed through various inexpensive products to create multiple signals. 

Test File Specifications

  • File Type: Windows Media (.wmv)
  • Codec: Windows Media
  • Aspect Ratio: 16x9
  • Pixel Size: 1920x1080
  • Bit Rate: 4.5 Mbps
  • Frame Order: Progressive

Right Click Here to download the Test File

Video in PowerPoint or Keynote Presentations

It's important to note that playing video in a PowerPoint presentation is not the same thing as playing back video directly from your laptop.  PowerPoint is a presentation program that "piggy backs" video on other programs you have on your computer.  For example, if you have a Windows laptop, then you likely have Windows Media Player to play video.  When you insert video into a PowerPoint presentation, PowerPoint will reach out and use the "engine" of Windows Media Player to play the video.  This means that the exact same video file might play perfectly when played directly in Windows Media Player... but may not play as smooth when played from PowerPoint.  Video files need to be made a bit smaller in size and quality to be played from within PowerPoint.  To get the best playback possible, we recommend playing video from your laptop using a video player program such as Windows Media Player or Quicktime Player, rather than PowerPoint.

Our File Recommendations:
For sales, conference and/or PowerPoint presentations, if you are using a Windows computer, we recommend Windows Media Player files which can be played back from within PowerPoint or using Windows Media Player.  If you are using a Mac computer, we recommend Quicktime files because they can be played back in Quicktime Player, iTunes or even embedded into a Keynote presentation. 

Test File Specifications (PowerPoint)

  • File Type: Windows Media (.wmv)
  • Codec: Windows Media
  • Aspect Ratio: 16x9
  • Pixel Size: 640x360
  • Bit Rate: 2.5 Mbps
  • Frame Order: Progressive

Right Click Here to download the Test File

Test File Specifications (Keynote)

  • File Type: Quicktime (.mov)
  • Codec: H.264
  • Aspect Ratio: 16x9
  • Pixel Size: 640x360
  • Bit Rate: 2.5 Mbps
  • Frame Order: Progressive

Right Click Here to download the Test File

Mobile Presentation

Today's SmartPhones have incredibly powerful capabilities when compared with the mobile phones of a few years ago.  Android, iPhone and Blackberry models all have surprisingly good looking audio and video capability.  Creating video files for these devices is not difficult.  However, actually getting the video files onto the mobile devices themselves can range from pretty simple to downright maddening.  Nonetheless, with a bit of research you can get video on your mobile phone and unleash the power of having your video messaging at your fingertips.

Our File Recommendations: 
For mobile devices such as SmartPhones or even an iPad, we recommend MPEG-4 files.  MPEG-4 files are easily loaded to an iPhone or iPad through iTunes, and they also play well when loaded onto other SmartPhone models.

Test File Specifications

  • File Type: MPEG-4 (.mp4)
  • Codec: H.264
  • Aspect Ratio: 16x9
  • Pixel Size: 480x270
  • Bit Rate:  300 kbps
  • Frame Order: Progressive

Right Click Here to download the Test File

Downloadable Videos

Sometimes you don't want users to watch the video on your site, but would rather allow them to click a link and download a video to their local computer.  Or you may want users to be able to watch the video on your site, but at least have the option to download it as well.  In either case, creating a video file that can be downloaded is a relatively straight-forward affair.  The big advantage to downloadable video is that you can create files that are fairly large and look amazing.  After downloading, users play the files directly from their local computer, which generally results in a far smoother and better looking experience than video which is streamed from the Internet.

The main thing to consider is that you have to create a file that a user can open up and view on their local computer, which means that they must have a program on their computer capable of playing video files.  nearly all of today's computers come out-of-the-box with one or several types of programs that can play video.  There are also several free video player programs readily available on the Internet, including: MicroSoft Windows Media Player, Apple Quicktime Player and even iTunes just to name a few.  All you need to do is upload your video files to your server(s) and then create a web link which prompts the user to download the video. 

Our File Recommendation:

For Mac users, an MPEG-4 file will offer a relatively small file size, which means it's faster to download, but still look great.  It will also be able to play right in iTunes or Quicktime Player, both which come standard on all Macs.  For Windows users, Windows Media files are the tried and true standard.  They also offer relatively small file sizes and look great.

Test File Specificatons (Mac)

  • File Type: MPEG-4 (.mp4)
  • Codec: H.264
  • Aspect Ratio: 16x9
  • Pixel Size: 1280x720
  • Bit Rate: 2.5 Mbps
  • Frame Order: Progressive

 Right Click Here to download the Test File

Test File Specifications (Windows)

  • File Type: Windows Media (.wmv)
  • Codec: Windows Media
  • Aspect Ratio: 16x9
  • Pixel Size: 1280x720
  • Bit Rate: 2.5 Mbps
  • Frame Order: Progressive

Right Click Here to download the Test File

On Television

If your video is going to end up on broadcast television, then it has to look great and meet the specific requirements of whomever is broadcasting it.  Big questions tend to revolve around what's known as "Aspect Ratio", which describes whether or not your videos can be displayed on both older televisions (which have a more square shape) versus newer widescreen televisions (which are more rectangular).  Usually, this means working with a broadcast traffic company to figure out the best file type and codec that works for them.  These types of files will be fairly large in size and may have custom settings that are necessary to make them 'legal' to be aired on television as governed by the FCC (Federal Communications Commission).

Our File Recommendation:

MPEG-2 has a very popular broadcast quality delivery file, especially for news and corporate videos.  As of late, Quicktime H.264 has also become very popular and is used often for commercials and content that's more creative in nature.  Feel free to copy the specs or download the files to send to your broadcast traffic partner to see if they fit the bill.

MPEG-2 Test File (Standard Definition)

  • File Type: MPEG-2 (.m2v)
  • Codec: MPEG-2
  • Aspect Ratio: 4x3
  • Pixel Size: 720x480 Non-Square Pixel
  • Bit Rate: 18 Mbps
  • Frame Order: Interlaced

Right Click Here to download the SD Test File

 

Quicktime H.264 Test File (High Definition)

  • File Type: Quicktime (.mov)
  • Codec: H.264
  • Aspect Ratio 16x9
  • Pixel Size: 1280x720
  • Bit Rate: 45 Mbps
  • Frame Order: Interlaced

Right Click Here to download the HD Test File

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