Video Formats & Codecs

Here is John T Smith's recommended reading on this subject:

Read Bill Hunt on a file type as WRAPPER

http://forums.adobe.com/thread/440037

What is a CODEC... a Primer

http://forums.adobe.com/thread/546811

Simply put, the format specifies details about the file, whereas the codec specifies details about the video and audio in that file.

Well, technically the H.264 export selection could just have well been called the MP4 export, but that would have confused some of the highly technical people, or really annoyed them.

They should redefine export presets and make it more clear about the codec and the container. There "format" term is not very intuitive, because it merges container and codec in its own way. It's a bit confusing that you can make .mp4 files via several "formats" (for example H.264 and MPEG4), and .mov files only via one "format" (Quicktime).

Additionally when I choose H.264 it confuses me because I select the codec, and I expect to chose the video format when I discover I'm limited to .MP4 and .3GPP containers.

They should redefine export presets and make it more clear about the codec and the container.

I certainly can't argue with that. I am not exactly sure what it should look like, but my guess is that we should be able to click a button to get a list by extensions, or one to get a list by codec. Maybe even a drop down to list for the reason we are exporting... for web page, for YouTube, for email, for DVD, etc. It is almost that easy now, but not quite easy enough.

Or, the fact of the matter is, once you know what you just learned, the issue pretty much becomes moot.

Thank for the reply and information.

However, I found the problem to be my video conversion program. Using another application, now everything seems to be working OK.