Formats

Probably the most difficult decision to be made. There are pros and cons to every format. These are the formats that our clients ask for, in order of popularity:

Flash FLV – single or multipass, CBR or VBR up to 720p

• On2 VP6, E or S
• H264, MP4 or F4V (recommended)
• Spark (no longer recommended)

Windows Media – single or multipass, CBR or VBR up to 720p

• WM9, for the Windows Media Player or Silverlight, MBR available
• VC-1, for Silverlight Smooth Streaming or BluRay

QuickTime – Progressive Download, Hinted, Archival

• H264, baseline and main, limited specifications
• PhotoJPEG, MotionJPEG, Animation, ProRes, etc. for Archiving and Editing
• Sorenson 3 (no longer recommended)

H264 (AVC, MPEG-4 part 10)

• High profiles in transport streams for VOD, up to 1080i or 1080p
• High profiles BluRay, up to 1080i or 1080p
• QuickTime compatible for iPod, iPhone and AppleTV
• Low bitrates for Flash, Silverlight or QuickTime Player

MPEG-2

• DVD specs with PCM or AC3 audio
• Cablelabs specs for VOD