Choosing a Digital Video Format

How to choose a format for your digital video file.

Choosing a Digital Video Format

Adapted From: Digital Photos, Movies, & Music Gigabook?For Dummies
Many different video formats are available for the movies that you edit on your computer. Each format uses a different codec. (A codec, short for compressor/decompressor, is a software tool that is used to make multimedia files smaller.) Common video file formats include MPEG and AVI, but these two formats are usually not suitable for movies that you plan to share online because they have big file sizes. Three other popular formats, however, are perfectly suited to the online world. These formats are as follows:
QuickTime (.QT): Many Windows users and virtually all Macintosh users have the QuickTime Player program from Apple. QuickTime is the only export format that's available with iMovie. Pinnacle Studio cannot export QuickTime movies, but some more advanced Windows programs like Adobe Premiere can. RealMedia (.RM): This is the format that is used by the popular RealPlayer, which is available for Windows and Macintosh systems, among others. Pinnacle Studio can export RealMedia-format video. Windows Media Video (.WMV): This format requires Windows Media Player. Almost all Windows users and some Macintosh users already have it. Both Pinnacle Studio and Windows Movie Maker can export Windows Media Video.
Each of these three video formats has strengths and weaknesses. Ultimately, the format that you choose depends mainly on the editing software that you're using. For example, if you're using iMovie on a Mac, QuickTime is probably your only option.

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