avi or mpg?

[H5N1]

which file type is superior?

[MrScorpio]

1. For Mac users, MPG

AVI is too buggy

[H5N1]

2. I have a PC

[MrScorpio]

3. MPG is more universal

That's where I'd go

[Spider Jerusalem]

4. DiVX/XViD avi is generally better than mpeg, IMO.

Depends on the application, really. Mpeg-4 video is good, but avi using the DiVX or XViD codec seems to give the best combination of manageable file size and decent resolutiion and image quality.

[H5N1]

6. I am downloading movies

Those avi files are much smaller
but is the quality as good as mpg?

[Spider Jerusalem]

9. you want XViD encoded files.

Best quality at smaller file size. Codec (enCOder/DECoder--needed for playback) can be found here: http://www.xvidmovies.com/codec/

And the divx codec is at http://www.divx.com .

Also, you should search for "divx" or "xvid" as part of the file name of whatever video file you're downloading.

[H5N1]

10. will most DVD players play these files?

[Spider Jerusalem]

11. Most will.

You should Google your DVD player by manufacturer and model # and see if it supports divx/VCD/SVCD playback. (you can probably ALSO find hacked firmware for it, which will allow you to disable the region coding, among other things).

[short bus president]

5. superior how?

I prefer avi, 'cuz it avoids the whole "is it a mpg or an mpg" issue in print.

[H5N1]

7. is the difference in video quality noticeable to the average user?

[hyphenate]

8. MPEGs came after AVIs

and therefore are technically superior, but AVIs still have their place. However, having said that, I've looked at way too much squintyvision to ever want to see an AVI that is any longer than a half a minute because of the size.

[ghostsofgiants]

12. Depends on the compression

Uncompressed AVI is the highest quality you'll get as far as I know (but it's fucking huge, so not a very practical format for anything but editing to be compressed for other purposes.)

MPEG2 (dvd) will give you better quality than an MPEG4 (divx/xvid) compressed AVI file.

For downloading, go for divx or xvid compressed AVIs.

[Kellanved]

13. avi is just a container

It can contain anything, including MPEG1,2,4 video. In fact, almost all avis contain mpeg video.

Mpeg, is - well - just mpg. The major advantage of mpeg is that most people have ways to play mpg (1 and 2) videos, in the case of the container formats (including avi), having the correct codecs might be a problem.

There are containers far better than avi; ogm or mkv for instance.

[ghostsofgiants]

14. Doesn't OGM support stuff like chapters and multiple subtitles?

Someone was telling me about it before, but I've never used it myself.

[Kellanved]

15. yes, the advanced containers offer dvd-like features

Multiple audio streams, chapters, subtitles,...