Different formats of online video streaming

There are many different ways to stream video. Today we will look at some of the formats.

1. WMV (Windows media video) – The quality of wmv is pretty high. Although it’s an old technology and the codecs are Microsoft you can get great results. If you choose to go the wmv path there is one huge advantage and that is that you can encode multi bit rate streams this give you flexibility in the audience you can deliver to. The main concern with wmv is that because it is a Microsoft codec it isn’t as good on Apple computers.

2. FLV (Flash) – The quality of flash greatly varies depending on which codec you use. The Sorensen codec is very poor quality and I would steer clear of it if you have a choice. The On2 codec is great quality and from my experience is probably a little bit better than a wmv stream on the same bit rate. The main downside to flash video is that you need the flash plugin to view it.

3. MOV (Quicktime) – The MOV format is Apple’s flagship video technology the quality is great but the requirement to have Quicktime installed on pc’s is a large hindrance in it being accepted and widely used.

4. Silverlight – Silverlight is the latest generation Microsoft streaming technology. It has had a good uptake on American sites with www.netflix.com using it as their streaming format. The quality is excellent. It is a little bit better than Quicktime but has had some problems with being difficult to implement and hard to troubleshoot issue’s with the code.

5. Real Player – This is the least recommended of current technologies and is in decline. It is really only used in America still and I would not implement it unless it was specifically requested by a client.

6. HTML5 – With the new HTML standard getting closer to being supported in all new release browsers now may not quite be the time to go with this technology. HTML 5 will natively support streaming of H.264 video without the need for any other players. This is going to be a great step in the right direction for video streaming and will allow viewers on PC or Apple to view video without the requirement for any browser plugin’s. If you are interested in seeing what all the fuss is about go to http://www.youtube.com/html5 make sure you have a compatible browser and start watching.

So what does all this mean? If you think your potential market is tech savvy users who don’t like Internet Explorer then go for HTML5 if you want to appeal to the broader market user an older technology is the way to go. I would say flash is the pick of the crop at the moment.