MP4, AVI, MOV: What Format is Right for Me?
Several different video formats support videos on numerous platforms. Which video format you go with depends entirely on your choice and need. However, in this article, we will put light on three important video formats. MP4, MOV, and AVI. AVI, MP4, and MOV: Which Format is best? Before deciding which video format is the best, let’s have a look at each one of the video formats in detail. AVI: AVI or Audio Video Interleave is developed by Microsoft and is one of the oldest video formats. It is a popular video format that is considered as the de facto standard for saving audio and video files. AVI files can easily run on several systems, including Windows, Linux, and Macintosh.AVI files data can be encoded in different codec’s however, the most common ones are M-JPEG or DivX. Thus although AVI files look similar from outside, they differ from one another. However, with the changing needs of people, Microsoft replaces it with WMV, which comes with more features for the latest versions of Windows Media Player. MOV: Apple develops a MOV video format for the support of QuickTime movie players. It is compatible with Mac and Windows operating systems. It tracks data that is present in the multimedia file container.Several different tracks are holding different kinds of data like audio, video, text, etc. thus; they maintain a hierarchy for data reference on other media streams. Although it has several advantages to use, it still comes with proprietary issues. It has the best quality files that are usually big. MP4: Currently, MP4 is the most widely used and recognized video format, which provides support to the operating systems other than Apple. Moreover, it is a widely supported system by handheld devices like players and gaming devices. MP4 format is created based on the MOV file format.Moreover, it stores data and file formats in the QuickTime program. When it comes to software, MP4 uses most DirectShow or video for windows codec pack. Comparison Chart MP4 MOV AVI Origin Developed by MPEG Developed by Apple for Mac OS and QuickTime Developed by Microsoft as the file format for its media player application. License Patent encumbered Proprietary File Size & Quality Small size and better quality Small size and better quality The file size is big and quality bad as compared to MOV Tags Supported Yes Yes not officially Support Menus like DVD Yes No No Container for Audio, video, text Audio, video, text Audio, Video Internet Media Type video/quicktime video/avi video/msvideo video/x-msvideo Streaming Yes Yes No Chapters In specially formatted text track (QuickTime) Yes, via third party modifications Yes Subtitles Yes Yes, via third party modifications Yes What Format is Right for Me? All video formats are good and have their uniqueness. However, in my opinion, the best among them is MP4. AVI is outdated, although it is still used, its video quality is not good in contrast to MP4 and MOV. Both MP4 and MOV have the same quality, but the proprietary issues of MOV make it less desirable.