Encoding for Web (Quicktime ... Mac & PC)

idylwyld

Member
What's the best way to encode a video for the web (.mov) so that it plays on both macs and PCs? Are there different .mov encoding/codex protocols?

I have a quicktime movie file (.mov) that works perfectly on Firefox, Explorer (et. al.) when run on a Mac, but it doesn't play on the same browsers on a PC. Says it's missing Quicktime components, and displays a white screen. I created the file in FCP using quicktime conversion (medium broadband - which is 320 x 240), and have simply embedded the video in a web page for viewing. Do I need to have some external player installed on the server so that PCs know what to do with quicktime?

Help!
 
mov is simply a wrapper around the video file...it doesn't determine which codec you're using.

That export preset you used is h.264 encoding which is part of Quicktime 7. It sounds like the PC may not have the latest version of Quicktime and cannot read the file.
 
you're right ... the preset is h.264. should i use an older encoding, or will most PC users be able to access the file in Quicktime 7? Is it simply having the latest version of Explorer or Firefox, or do they need to install a separate plug-in (Quicktime Alternative 1.76). I'm a dedicated Mac user, and the PC world is entirely opaque to me?
 
h.264 is a pretty safe codec, since most people have quicktime installed...if you want to play it a little more safe, I'd go with Sorenson 3.
 
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