I am working on a web site for my friend's music project, and there will be two simple videos for download. So I have to choose a compression. I guess that for windows wmv format is a logical choice as I was reluctant to use divX, because I thought that there is possibility that visitor does not have right codec.
My problem is what compression and format to choose for Mac users? I thought QuickTime is a logical choice, so I asked my friend that has Vegas video to convert them, but there are a lot of choices for audio compression, and as I don't use Mac, and only friend that has Mac does not have a clue about all this, I can't tell which one is best choice for compressing the file?
And is the QuickTime best choice for Mac version of video file at all; are there any other formats that have good compression that can be played on a Mac?
Also, file compressed in QuickTime is almost 80Mb and same file in wmv format is 20Mb, and looks and sounds quite better, so that confuses me...Is the QuickTime compression inferior to other compression schemes that much?
Finally is there any good tool available for download that converts various video formats, preferably free one, so I don’t have to bother my friend about it again, (and he is not quite living in the neighborhood) but do that by myself?
Anyone? Mac users?
Best multimedia compression for MAC?
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- KVRist
- 227 posts since 27 May, 2003
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- KVRAF
- 3964 posts since 31 Aug, 2003 from In a foreign town, in a foreign land
Sorensen 3, which has great quality but creates stupid huge big files.
Or mp4, which is smaller but has lower quality (well, depending on compression, naturally).
The videos on my site are all .mp4. They're pretty small but have heavy compression artifacts.
Personally, I'd say use Xvid. Mac users will have to use the appropriate .components to play Xvid in QuickTime, or use something like VLC or MPlayer, which may be a problem.
Groet, Erik
Or mp4, which is smaller but has lower quality (well, depending on compression, naturally).
The videos on my site are all .mp4. They're pretty small but have heavy compression artifacts.
Personally, I'd say use Xvid. Mac users will have to use the appropriate .components to play Xvid in QuickTime, or use something like VLC or MPlayer, which may be a problem.
Groet, Erik
Pop music delenda est.
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- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 227 posts since 27 May, 2003
Thanks Erik, help appreciated, but do you eventually know what are most usual codecs for audio/video compression on Mac? I do care about size and quality of material, but what I really want to be sure is that this file will play in 99% of Mac computers, without causing eventual hassle of downloading right codec to visitor.
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- KVRAF
- 3508 posts since 27 Dec, 2002 from North East England
Bear in mind that if you go for mp4, I believe you'll be asking PC users to download additional stuff. The scourge of Quicktime no less (yeah, I know there are alternatives, but does your casual computer user know that?).
I really can't think of any decent codecs that can be played as standard on both platforms. I'd guess that the largest crossover would be DivX though.
I really can't think of any decent codecs that can be played as standard on both platforms. I'd guess that the largest crossover would be DivX though.