video format change

[youngblood61]

Two of my favorite sites have changed. Both SMY,and Canada TGirl have changed video format. Instead of windows media it is now mp4 or streaming. Why the change? How come there isn't at least one option for wm?

[saifan]

Get VLC player (it's free) or play the MP4 vids with Windows Media Player. MP4 files are smaller but look just as good.

[youngblood61]

Get VLC player (it's free) or play the MP4 vids with Windows Media Player. MP4 files are smaller but look just as good.

Thanks saifan will try both.

[GroobyKrissy]

I can speak for my site, which changed to only MP4 formats this or last year. The files are ubiquitous and can be played without having to re-render for multiple devices (WMV - Windows, Quicktime - Apple, Flash - old people, DivX - Weird people, etc. etc.). Basically, any device these days are or can be configured to play MP4 files with the proper APP. This saves server space, and really helps as far as promotional work goes with only having to use one file.

[Ben in LA]

Plus it's easier to transfer said files to my iPad.

[GroobySteven]

Every browser and computer can use Mp4. You should also notice we've upped the bitrate to give a much higher quality video.

http://techcrunch.com/2012/04/17/survey-mp4-is-top-format-for-web-and-mobile-videos/

The issue will be that his browser will automatically streaming it within his browser as most browsers have native plugins that do this - so they need to right-click and choose "save as" to download it. As we're converting the sites to the new streaming delivery, we're adding a note to the video page about this although I think we're also able to add a forced download so it doesn't try to play it.

Thanks