Common Video Formats

Format

File

Description

MPEG

.mpg
.mpeg

MPEG, developed by the Moving Pictures Expert Group, was the first widely used video format on the web. It is no longer supported in HTML.

AVI

.avi

AVI (Audio Video Interleave), developed by Microsoft, is commonly used in video cameras and TV hardware. It plays well on Windows computers but is not compatible with web browsers.

WMV

.wmv

WMV (Windows Media Video), developed by Microsoft, is commonly used in video cameras and TV hardware. It plays well on Windows computers but is not supported by web browsers.

QuickTime

.mov

QuickTime, developed by Apple, is commonly used in video cameras and TV hardware. It plays well on Apple computers but is not supported by web browsers.

RealVideo

.rm
.ram

RealVideo, developed by Real Media, allows video streaming with low bandwidths. It is not compatible with web browsers.

Flash

.swf
.flv

Flash, developed by Macromedia, often requires an additional plug-in to play in web browsers.

Ogg

.ogg

Theora Ogg, developed by the Xiph.Org Foundation, is supported by HTML.

WebM

.webm

WebM, developed by Mozilla, Opera, Adobe, and Google, is compatible with HTML.

MPEG-4
or MP4

.mp4

MP4, developed by the Moving Pictures Expert Group, is widely used in video cameras and TV hardware. It is supported by all browsers and recommended by YouTube.