Selecting Multimedia Files
Choosing an appropriate Movie Format.
If you are a movie maker - professional or amateur - then you are really concerned with different movie file formats. Especially, the amateurs get confused as to what format should be used to save their out. Well, in this article I will guide you about the contemporary movie formats. Pros and cons of each format are also being given; the choice will only be yours.
The best format to choose depends on the end purpose and audience of your movie. First ask yourself a few questions, for example: how will the movie be distributed? Is file size a concern to you? How important is compatibility? So, here we go with a gentle introduction to each format and the purposes each is suited to.
Flash Back Format
FBR is the native file format of BB FlashBack. When you first record a movie, it will always be saved into an FBR file. While in FBR format, movies can be edited with BB FlashBack, and then exported to any of the other movie formats. FBR files are high quality and usually have the smallest file size of all movie file formats.
For users without BB FlashBack installed, there is a free FBR player available to download from many websites. There are no restrictions on use of the Free FlashBack player - you can distribute it with your movies, on any media you choose.
Note: You should always keep a copy of your movie in FBR format in case you want to make editing changes to it later.
Advantages: Lossless quality; small file size; editable with the BB FlashBack Player; a basic but free edition of FlashBack player is also available.
Drawbacks: Requires a FlashBack product to be installed in order to play.
Flash Format
Macromedia Flash is an extremely popular format for playing animated video, particularly over the Internet. When you export to Flash from BB FlashBack two files will be produced: an HTML file and a SWF file. The SWF file contains the actual Flash movie, while the HTML file can be opened in a Web browser to correctly display the Flash movie.
Flash format requires a small and free plug-in to play, which is installed on the majority of modern PCs. Where not installed this plug-in is quick, easy and free to download from the Internet.
When placed online, Flash movies created with BB FlashBack automatically Stream. This means that instead of having to download the entire movie before viewing, the movie begins to play in the webpage while the remainder downloads.
Flash files cannot contain more than 16,000 frames. This puts a limit on the maximum duration of any Flash movie exported, and this maximum duration depends on the frame rate you set on export. BB FlashBack’s default frame rate is 24 frames per second, and works out to roughly ten minutes of footage. If you wanted to make a 20 minute Flash export, you would need to halve the frame rate. Fortunately, there are controls that let you easily do this on the Video tab of the Flash Export Options window.
Advantages: High quality; good file sizes; the majority of computers have the Flash plug-in required to play Flash files; very suitable for the internet, and supports online streaming.
Drawbacks: Requires Flash plug-in in order to play; limited to 16,000 frames in length (ten minutes at the default frame rate).
Executable (EXE) Format
EXE file format is an extremely common file format, used to contain programs of all types. In the case of BB FlashBack EXE exports, the EXE is a small movie playing program with the movie file contained inside.
EXE files require no extra software or plug-ins to be installed in order to play. However, EXE files can carry viruses or other harmful content from computer to computer. For this reason some companies or email systems block EXE files automatically as a general security measure.
Advantages: Lossless quality, highly compressed file size, requires no codecs or plug-ins in order to play, true full screen display options available upon export.
Drawbacks: Blocked by default in some companies or email clients.
AVI Format
AVI is a popular media file format, primarily designed for television-clip like material. Each AVI file is encoded with a ìcodecî. A codec is responsible for converting the movie information provided by BB FlashBack into the final AVI file, and replaying it upon viewing. Codecs are separate pieces of software to the BB FlashBack program. The standard definition of a codec is: Any technology for compressing and decompressing data. The term codec stands for Compressor/Decompressor.
When you choose to export to AVI format, BB FlashBack will give you a list of all the AVI codecs currently installed on your computer to choose from. The codec chosen will be used to encode your file. Different codecs produce very different results in terms of file size, quality and export times. The codec you choose upon export must be present on the viewing computer in order to play the movie. AVI movies are played with common third party media playing programs such as Windows Media Player, RealPlayer and WinAmp.
Advantages: Choice of codecs allows experimentation with different results; plays in mainstream media players such as Windows Media Player; can be used as a starting point to create playable DVDs.
Drawbacks: The codec used to create your movie is required in order to view it; often produces larger file sizes than other file formats; some codecs take a long time to create your AVI movie; some codecs produce reduced visual quality. AVI format does not support user interactivity (e.g. click to continue, pauses).
WMV Format
WMV stands for Windows Media Video, and is another popular file type for distributing video-clip type movies. Like AVI format, WMV uses a codec to encode your movie. Codecs convert the movie footage into the final WMV file, and are also used to display it.
Upon exporting to WMV, FlashBack will list all WMV codecs installed on your computer to choose from. The codec chosen will be used to encode your file, and determines the file size and quality.
WMV exports should avoid most of the compatibility problems experienced with AVIs, where the codec chosen on export needs to be installed on PCs to play it. PCs with recent versions of Windows Media Player should be able to play all WMV exports. WMV movies are also played with common third party media playing programs such as Windows Media Player, RealPlayer and WinAmp.
Advantages: Choice of codecs allows experimentation with different results; plays in mainstream media players such as Windows Media Player; often higher quality replay than AVI format.
Drawbacks: On PCs with older versions of Windows Media Player, there can be compatibility problems; often produces larger file sizes than Flash or EXE; some codecs produce reduced visual quality; WMV format does not support user interactivity.
MPEG Format
The full name of MPEG is: Moving Picture Expert Group, which is an international compression standard designed for moving images. MPEG algorithms compress data to form small bits that can be easily transmitted and then decompressed. Redundancy between subsequent images and previous images is removed while most similar parts are preserved to cut down the file size. Its compression rate can reach 50:1 and it is a video standard of good compatibility. Currently, MPEG includes three compression standards: MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4. Additional, MPEG-7 and MPEG-21 are being developed.
It provides users a convenient way to store a movie in a common CD-Rom disc, while the quality is better than VCD obviously.
RM Format
RM format developed by RealNetworks Corporation is a video format for stream media. It includes RealAudio, RealVideo and RealFlash. To transmit and play real-time video files in narrow-bandwidth Internet, Real Media adopts distinct compress rate according to the bandwidth. RealVideo is used to transmit video data. Except being played as a normal video file, it also can be used together with RealServer. RealEncoder converts real-time video to RealMedia Format, which is broadcasted by RealServer. You can enjoy the video when you are downloading it. Not like many other video format, it is not necessary for RM format to download the whole video file before it can be played.
Currently, many websites provide RealVideo files. You can use RealPlayer or RealOne Player to play videos compressed by RealMedia technology. Another important feature of the format is video files can be played without downloading, if you use RealPlayer or RealOne Player.
RMVB Format
As the heir of RM format, RMVB format is developed based on RM format. The advantage is RMVB format abandons Average Bit Rate and use Variable Bit Rate to compress video data. By Variable Bit Rate technology, quality of video files is greatly improved while file size of them is acceptable.
About the Author:Sh Asad
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - Selecting Multimedia Files