The format you decide to use videos in your site will depend largely on the level of compresão that the files will need to load to be smooth. Many of the video-sharing sites limit the size of files sent to 100MB. This seems much but remember that consumes 1GB of memory per minute of video. Therefore, the compression becomes a priority to ensure that your site does not suffer with a load of video horribly slow. There are several codecs available, as you can see if www.codecs.com visit, but many webdesigners are limited to using the most common formats.

The most common formats of video compression are:

This is a file format and a compression codec. One of the favorite brands of webdesigners, this format is now even more attractive because it comes installed on most DVD players and portable devices.

Real Media was one of the first formats to be adopted for the web. Has a long history, a large user base, and is supported by Windows, Mac, Solaris, Linus, and some mobile phones.

Appeared in 1998 as part of QuickTime3. This codec is used in all installations of Apple's QuickTime and Flash Video Player.

As the codec of MPEG-4, Xvid is the direct competitor of the DivX and offers many of the same features. The difference is that Xvid is open source, while DivX is a format of property with associated costs.

The announced the fifth version of this codec improves compatibility with a wide range of platforms. It is available in Universal Binary for Intel-based Macs, giving you full compatibility with the QuickTime7. All video-editing applications available produce two prinçipaes video formats: MPEG and AVI. For several years they are in standard Windows platform. The problem is they produce very large files and therefore it is important to use a compression codec. However, there are three video formats ideal for online projects, it offers images of high quality with small files.

Is one of the most common video players, and WMV files can be viewed on any PC with the player installed. Applications for editing and the Premiere Elements, and, of course, the Microsoft Movie Maker can produce these files.

As the format video platform on the Mac, QuickTime is available for all Mac users certainly explores that iMovie files in this format, as well as Premiere Elements.

This format is somehow getting older, but still hold thanks to its longevity and, therefore, its base of users. It was for many years the main rival of Microsoft. Programs like Pinnacle studio edition can export in this format, but the current market leaders not.

It is the format owned by Adobe Flash Player, and can only display video or elements included in the video files to Flash. Swf. As the Flash is present in all browsers, most video-sharing sites such as YouTube and MySpace, using this format.

Developed by Microsoft, this is a new codec that is part of WMA9 and suite of applications for content creation of Expression. The VC-1 is significant because it was adopted by faricantes hardware for high definition. Online, is more versatile that the traditional Flash files.