A Guide to Essential Video File Types and Codecs

Video content is the best way to generate engagement on social media, but the technical aspects of video can be challenging for some.

The various file types essentially serve as containers for holding videos.

The most universal of these are QuickTime (.mov) and MPEG-4 (.mp4). Codec software compresses and decompresses video.

Apple ProRes is a codec that works well with .mov files.

If your goal is to have your videos shared on social media, .mp4 encoded with H.264 is probably the best option.

Finally, when creating video content, pay attention to how it’s recorded, edited and shared, and understand the camera you’re using.

Key Takeaways:

As notable as good images are, videos always trump images in pulling in views. On this point small business owners and influencers fully agree.
Data shows that social video on Facebook garners 1200 percent more shares than the shares of images and text content put together.
When creating video content you most want to keep close tabs on three key aspects, how its recorded, how its edited or altered and lastly, how its shared.

“Video content on both Facebook and Instagram will get a higher percentage of clicks and views across the board.”

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