Streaming Videos, what format do I use?

[Kraise]

Hey, I've always encoded XVID .avis or h264 .MP4's but now I want to stream the videos on a website, and I need to get a format where most people can play the video. I've seen .movs and .flvs is what most people use, but can .mp4 stream just like a quicktime .mov? and if so will everybody with quicktime installed be able to play my .mp4?

I'm wanting a play, stop, and audio button too for the video streams, I've got megui and sony vegas for encoding.

anyway, to sum up the question:

What's a good codec & container to use for web streaming in terms of video quality & compatibility with other users?

[smok3]

the easy and highly compatible way is H.264+AAC.mp4 progressive downloads via flash (if you need 100% compatibility you will need also to cover users with lower version of flash (vp6 maybe) + users that don't have flash...).

[aldenml]

I you are not interested in allow direct download, I recomend you try Smooth Streaming. The silverlight installation is not a problem and you will get multiple qualities with the same deployment (server+player), instant play and seek, and an overall better performance.

[NeonMan]

Try the flumotion solution, if i remember it supports h264, mpeg4, mpeg2, theora an with audio aac, mp3, vorbis, ac3

quality wise i would choose h264/aac or ac3, It isn't free afaik.

Patent and price wise use theora/vorbis with the cortado package (from flumotion), the same player wikipedia uses

http://www.fluendo.com/