What Factors to Consider When Selecting a Format for Business Videos
When you record, edit, or distribute business videos, you should take care to use the right video format. It is certainly one of the more important decisions that you’ll have to make.
The format that you select can have a big impact on your video in a number of ways. Because of that, you need to carefully consider several different factors before you decide on one to use.
Compatibility
The format that you select must be compatible with the device or platform it is going to be viewed on. In other words it needs to be supported, otherwise it will not be able to be viewed.
Some formats such as MP4 (H.264) are very widely-supported, which makes them perfect for distributing business videos. However other formats such as MP4 (H.265) are not as widely-supported, and you may have difficulty watching them – especially on older devices.
If your business video will be viewed on a particular device or platform, you should be able to identify the formats compatible with them and choose accordingly. However if it is going to be watched on many different devices, it is best to select a format that is more universal.
Compression
Part of the video format (known as the video codec) is responsible for compressing the video data so that it can be stored more efficiently and takes up less space. That is important for business videos as it will make them easier to distribute, manage, and store.
Tempting as it may be to just choose the codec that offers the best compression ratio – that may not always be a viable option. Newer codecs that provide better compression are often not as widely-supported as older codecs.
Suffice to say you need to consider the compression provided by the codec in tandem with other factors.
Usage
As you may have noticed, the manner in which your business video will be used is important and plays a part in both the factors listed above. At times you may even want to decide on a format based on the how it will be used alone.
Some common situations include when you:
- Distribute business videos and want to use a format that is widely supported – which currently is normally MP4 (H.264).
- Publish videos on social media and it is best to follow the recommended guidelines, such as Facebook’s video requirements.
- Publish HTML5 videos that need to be compatible with most browsers and typically use MP4 (H.264) and occasionally use WebM to conserve bandwidth.
- Burn video DVDs that require the use of MPEG-2 format and follow DVD video specifications in order to be viewed on most DVD players.
- Edit videos or store them to edit later in which case it is preferable to leave them in the existing format.
To put it simply the ‘best’ format for a business video will definitely depend on the way it is going to be used. Naturally you can switch the format your videos are in if necessary, and we can recommend you such video converters as:
Final Words
Ideally you should look at all the factors described whenever you need to select a format for your business videos. If you do you should find it relatively easy to choose the best option.
Keep in mind that advancements are constantly being made to video formats however, and there is no guarantee that a format that is popular today will be just as popular tomorrow. Because of that you need to keep informed to ensure you’re can pinpoint the right format in the future.