Most "universal" type of video file?

[R.L. Grigg]

On May 13, 2008, at 7:41 PM, Karl Kuehn wrote:

> On May 13, 2008, at 6:27 PM, R.L. Grigg wrote:
>
>> What is the most "universal" type of video file? What could be  
>> viewed on almost any system, Mac or Windows, without requiring  
>> certain packages or codecs?
>>
>> .wmv
>> .avi
>> .mov
>> .mpg
>> .asf
>> .mp4
>>
>> I have some .3g2 files to convert and have all these choices but  
>> don't know which one would be the best to give out to people. I  
>> don't plan to use any special encoding I just want to make a simple  
>> movie file anyone can play.
>
> 	I am split between MPEG 1, MPEG 4, and Flash, and here is why:
>
> MPEG 1
> + almost anything can play it
> + only format that really works in MS Office on both platforms
> - the compression is not so good, and the artifacts can be bad
> - had to find a good encoder on the Mac that is not expensive
>
> MPEG 4
> + most things can play it
> + compression is good, and the artifacts are reasonable
> + good availability of encoders
> - non computer devices, and older computers might not play it
>
> Flash
> + playable in any computer with a browser
> - lousy format (visual quality, and developer)
> - usually needs a wrapper to play (just html, but you now have 2  
> files rather than 1)

Wow. Interesting that MOV isn't on the list! If someone has iTunes on  
Windows, what .mov encodings should play on their system? Or are the  
two things not related.

Russ