A helpful guide for Digital and Internet Video Producers: Common Digital File Formats. This article discusses Flash, Google Video, and a handful of formats that are actually just for still images,not moving video.
FLASH VIDEO ONLINE
Once upon a time, almost all video online was played back in the FLASH file format. Not anymore.
The world in internet video is constantly changing. That helps add to the intimidation factor for people who want to use internet video but do not feel competent or technical. One of the things that has changed recently is the monopoly of FLASH as the format of choice for online video playback. If you are converting and uploading video files to the web, it used to be that FLASH was the format of choice because that was the format used by the vast majority of playback online.
Of course Steve Jobs (may he rest in peace) and Apple changed all that by forcing HTML 5 into the market by making their products run video exclusively in HTML5.
Flash is still predominant, it just no longer enjoys the monopoly it once did. That’s a good thing over all.
FLASH VIDEO
Flash video carries the .FLV file extension. It plays on the incredibly common Adobe Flash Player. Virtually everyone has the flash player since it is a free download. Flash still delivers more video over the Internet than any other file format but that has gotten cut considerably since tablets, mobile devices and others now run on HTML5.
A modified version of standard Flash video is the .SWF format. .SWF is enhanced to allow interactivity with the viewer, such as embedded links that automatically re-direct the viewer to another site at the end of the video.
Flash was originally a Macromedia product but is now Adobe.
.FLV gives one of the smallest file sizes after compression.
Flash Video is viewable on most operating systems, via the widely available Adobe Flash Player and web browser plug-in. Flash video also plays on several third-party programs such as MPlayer, VLC media player, Quicktime, or any player which uses DirectShow filters such as Media Player Classic, Windows Media Player, and Windows Media Center. Did we leave anybody out?
GOOGLE VIDEO
.GVI is the file extension for Google Video File, a video format developed by Google and used as their proprietary video format. It was a bust and is no longer common. Ironically it was designed to ease the confusion over file formats and compatibility but it only ended up making things MORE confusing.
As of August 17, 2007, Google Video Player has been discontinued and is no longer available for download from Google Video website. I don’t miss it. The option to download videos in GVI format has also been removed, the only download option remaining for iPod/PSP (MP4 format). Guess it all just got too confusing for words.
FOR STILL ONLY
Graphics Interchange Format has the file extension .GIF is one of the original digital still formats. It dates back to the pre-historic days of CompuServe in 1987 and has since come into widespread usage on the web due to wide support and portability.
The biggest drawback if GIF was poor color reproduction. Many people thought it wasn’t adequate for reproducing photographs when brilliant and accurate color was important. It’s better suited for more simple images such as graphics or logos with solid areas of color.
GIF is for still images only and can not handle moving video files.
Tagged Image File Format (abbreviated TIFF) is a container format for storing images, including photographs and line art. It is now under the ownership of Adobe. Originally created by the company Aldus for use with what was then called “desktop publishing,” TIFF is a popular format for color and black and white images. The TIFF format is widely supported by image-manipulation applications, by publishing and page layout applications, by scanning, faxing, word processing, optical character recognition and other applications.
Adobe Systems, which acquired Aldus, now holds the copyright to the TIFF specification. TIFF has not had a major update since 1992, though several Aldus/Adobe technical notes have been published with minor extensions to the format.
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