video format that will play in all browser sitauations

English Multimedia
#1

Hello,

I am looking for information/input about a format, I am thinking .ogg, that I can make available on a website using the video html tags. In the event that someone does not have video format available which are non-free, what is the most common free format?

As may be obvious (as well as outdated), one can provide alternatives to load a video in the html. In this case the browser (I think) determines what is available on the users computer. Whether it be a free or non-free format, which could be available.
:for example:


<video controls="controls" height="400">
<source src="video_file.mpeg4" type="video/mpeg4">
<source src="video_file.ogg"     type="video/ogg">
</video>

Thanks for any help,

a5’

#2

oog is available and free but I’m not sure ALL players know it. MS is perverse enough not to install it by default LOL

#3

There is no format that will play in all browser situations because of lack of agreement among vendors. https://html.spec.whatwg.org/ recommends that you include three formats in every web page to ensure maximum compatibility. If the author of the page does not include all three, there is not much you can do.

#4

gogalthorp

  	 			 			oog is available and free but I'm not sure ALL players know it. MS is perverse enough not to install it by default LOL

Yeah, I had been using, trying out .ogg, but I have only my set-up to test on. I am just being cautious that people may not be able to use youtube and flash content.
-Thanks

john_hudson

  	 			 			There is no format that will play in all browser situations because of lack of agreement among vendors. https://html.spec.whatwg.org/  recommends that you include three formats in every web page to ensure  maximum compatibility. If the author of the page does not include all  three, there is not much you can do

That is a very useful link, I am always trying to get through the w3.org stuff and not having much luck.

Thank You,

a5’

#5

—john_hudson

I looked around at that website. Where is the info about using 3 different formats and the ones they recommend?

john_hudson https://html.spec.whatwg.org/ recommends that you include three formats in every web page to ensure maximum compatibility.

Thanks,

a5’

Yeah, I was trying to use ffmpeg to prepare stuff for a webpage and thought that I would have to tinker with it to get it to work… was not so hard.

  • Download ffmpeg (they recommend newest git, possible to get through html)
  • uncompress file, for exmple a “tar.gz” archive
tar -xzf ffmpeg-HEAD-84ccc31.tar.gz 

cd ffmpeg-HEAD-84ccc31
  • try to configure
./configure
  • complains about lack of yasm
  • look for yasm
sudo zypper se yasm
  • install yasm
sudo zypper in yasm
  • realize that I want libtheora
    (.ogg format particularly) &** libvorbis (possibly .webm) - do some looking around in (ffmpeg-HEAD-84ccc31/
    directory) INSTALL.md and README.md - attempt to configure with     libvorbis**
    and** libtheora** ```
    sudo ./configure --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis
 
  - no** libtheora **
or **libvorbis** on system   - install both

sudo zypper in libtheora libvorbis

 
  - still not available to *./configure*
   - realize I need the** libtheora-devel**
 and** libvorbis-devel** packages because I am building the software ```
sudo zypper in libtheora-devel libvorbis-devel
  • configure again
sudo ./configure --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis
  • make** ffmpeg**
    , long wait…at least an hour ```
    make
 
  - and install

make install

 
  - voila 
  - use **ffmpeg**
 to convert existing .avi (1.9GB) to .ogg (5.8MB) ```
ffmpeg -i file.avi -codec:v libtheora -q:v 7 file.ogg

where -codec:v indicates **v**ideo codec, libtheora with a **q**uality** v**alue of 7 (1-10 scale)

https://www.ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-all.html#libtheora

#6

Sorry, they have taken out the specific recommendation about using three formats. It used to be in the <source> element description but you can still see the three main groups of codecs which need to be used to ensure that everyone can view a video.

#7

On 11/12/2014 04:26 PM, john hudson wrote:
>
> There is no format that will play in all browser situations because of
> lack of agreement among vendors. https://html.spec.whatwg.org/
> recommends that you include three formats in every web page to ensure
> maximum compatibility. If the author of the page does not include all
> three, there is not much you can do.
>
>

As far as I know, Theora is pretty much “out” with regards to something anyone
will support in the future. h264/aac mp4 is the safest bet I believe currently,
as long as you ok with that.

Sure, you can do webm, ogv and mp4… but anymore, for 90% out there (assuming
they are running new versions of their favorite browser), mp4 is going to work.
Not saying I like that fact, but it’s pretty much the truth.

#8

john_hudson

                                    Sorry, they have taken out the specific recommendation about using  three formats. It used to be in the &lt;source&gt; element description  but you can still see the three main groups of codecs which need to be  used to ensure that everyone can view a video.

No problem, I did look around for a while just didn’t see it. Thanks again.

a5’

As far as I know, Theora is pretty much “out” with regards to something anyone
will support in the future. h264/aac mp4 is the safest bet I believe currently,
as long as you ok with that.

Sure, you can do webm, ogv and mp4… but anymore, for 90% out there (assuming
they are running new versions of their favorite browser), mp4 is going to work.
Not saying I like that fact, but it’s pretty much the truth.

Is this even considering free software, wherein they may have problems with including it in the package?
I mean, I have not too long ago, run a computer and surfed on the internet without flash and general bells and whistles.
90% sounds likely though… and what I was thinking of was webm and ogg (because so-far I have only been able to play ogg’s
in my seamonkey browser without any exernal players). Then I was going to use either mp4 or something like h264, for
most viewers.

Thanks for your input.

a5’

#9

On 11/16/2014 07:06 PM, a59303 wrote:
>
>> john_hudson
>>
>>
> Sorry, they have taken
>> out the specific recommendation about using three formats. It used to
>> be in the <source> element description but you can still see the three
>> main groups of codecs which need to be used to ensure that everyone can
>> view a video.
>>
>>
>
> No problem, I did look around for a while just didn’t see it. Thanks
> again.
>
> a5’
>
>
>
>> As far as I know, Theora is pretty much “out” with regards to something
>> anyone
>> will support in the future. h264/aac mp4 is the safest bet I believe
>> currently,
>> as long as you ok with that.
>>
>> Sure, you can do webm, ogv and mp4… but anymore, for 90% out there
>> (assuming
>> they are running new versions of their favorite browser), mp4 is going
>> to work.
>> Not saying I like that fact, but it’s pretty much the truth.
>
> Is this even considering free software, wherein they may have problems
> with including it in the package?
> I mean, I have not too long ago, run a computer and surfed on the
> internet without flash and general bells and whistles.
> 90% sounds likely though… and what I was thinking of was webm and
> -ogg- (because so-far I have only been able to play ogg’s
> in my seamonkey browser without any exernal players). Then I was going
> to use either mp4 or something like h264, for
> -most- viewers.

Yes… I don’t like it. Theora was ok… and webm I think shows great promise.
But the world has dictated h264 and (now) h265. I blame the pseudo open source
projects (e.g. Google’s Android) the most. These are essentially closed source
solutions using (and I mean “using”) open source to promote proprietary codecs
and closed source solutions while occasionally tossing out a “bone” to the
community (like webm)… but it’s pretty much a deception at best.

Our best hope really is for MPEG-LA to be themselves (essentially) and tick off
the entire world by demanding fees everywhere. But, this might never happen.
The world has fallen in love with the supporters of closed solutions… freedom
doesn’t matter much to anyone anymore. Happy slaves… and Google is just one
of many masters…

#10

On 2014-11-13 09:16, a59303 wrote:

> - ‘Download ffmpeg’ (https://www.ffmpeg.org/download.html) (they
> recommend newest git, possible to get through html)
> - uncompress file, for exmple a “tar.gz” archive
> -

Don’t.

Unless you already know how to do that, don’t. Way complicated. Just
install ffmpeg from packman, as the rest of the multimedia stuff in
openSUSE.

…

> - make* ffmpeg*, long wait…at least an hour

Just don’t. Oh my, don’t. Far from trivial, too many codecs and
interdependencies.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 13.1 x86_64 “Bottle” at Telcontar)

#11

On 2014-11-17 01:15, Chris Cox wrote:

> Sure, you can do webm, ogv and mp4… but anymore, for 90% out there (assuming
> they are running new versions of their favorite browser), mp4 is going to work.
> Not saying I like that fact, but it’s pretty much the truth.

webm and mp4 seems to be the current recommendation. At least, that is
what youtube uses (unless you use flash). The site appears to detect
what capabilities your browser says to have, and serves one or the
other. And webm appears to be free.

However… Windows does not support it out of the box. So, install VLC
there. But some people don’t even know how to install it (in windows…).

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 13.1 x86_64 “Bottle” at Telcontar)

#12

Yes that is the issue, I would prefer to be ‘user-nuetral’ as far as the ability to see the content. I had said that ogg was the only format I could use but ogv does work if I include the

<source src="filename.ogv" type="video/ogg">

rather than; video/ogv in the html. I have to rebuild ffmpeg to get the webm functionality, but I will probably do that soon.

Thanks,

a5’

#13

Found some info about the website question:

Looks as though this is more or less what I was advised. Maybe I was putting the wrong MIME type in that definition (for ogv) so the browser was having trouble.
Webm, ogv, mp4 is used in the exampe on the wiki page. Although I think one can put as many options as one wants. I am thinking that I would put ogv and ogg as well as webm and mp4.

a5’

http://www.rackspace.com/knowledge_center/article/streaming-audio-and-video-with-html-5
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML5_video#Browser_support

#14

Make sure you test in real browsers because I have have seen mp4 videos mess up in IE11. From what I remember there was a real issue/bug with IE10 or may be 11 with native video formats - but it was not fixed properly. Might have to do with encoding. If any browsers are super sensitive it could be IEs. Like VLC vs. Media Player. Test will show what works.

Here is what I would do http://mediaelementjs.com/ Fallback to IE6 as bonus :slight_smile: Effect is a bit the same as on Youtube, just works.

#15

I was going to test to the best of my ability, I intended to anyway. I am not sure I understand what this mediaelementsjs does. Html allows for options in the page to offer ogg or webm or mp4, the browser will then (hopefully) choose which one it can play. I think this mediaelements is something that works at a different level than I am familiar with. Like youtube is what I am aiming for though… just works.

thanks

a5’

#16

Yeah browsers which can will hopefully pick the right one and not puke like I have seen IE11 do. Well depend on what you are doing if a media player like MediaElement.js make sense or is complicating things for no good reason. If raw HTML5 works and is manageable then go with that. Just don’t rip hair out if there are issues or you get tired of format juggling, scripts like MediaElement.js can take over.

If you are hand coding everything then you probably wont like overhead from script but if “available on a website” means you are using some blog/CMS like tool chances are something like MediaElement.js is available.

#17

Well I certainly appreciate the suggestion,

Have a good day,

a5’

#18

Here you can get IE Virtual Machines, legal, for testing your website in IE:

https://www.modern.ie/en-us/virtualization-tools#downloads

#19

It appears that you have to get a license for each version? I was going to go to the library, and visit the website, kind of lame but that was what I had in mind. The library is usually running the current version of windows, and IE. That also has the benefit of testing the website functionality as well. Although I have to say that it may be cumbersome.

Thanks,

a5’

#20

No. If you read the EULA, you will see that it is licensed for the purpose given … that is, to test IE’s interpretation of a website. Most often, it is used for testing a website design you are creating, or some element (as in your case) you are working on, to make certain it is compatible with IE. Note there are several versions of IE in several versions of Windows, from WinXP on up.

Many Linux users who design websites use these tools to make certain IE & Windows can visit the website without problems, which is what Microsoft also wants, so they provide these Virtual packages as a free tool. Note there are some conditions and restrictions: For example, they will expire after a certain number of days. When they expire, you will need to download and re-create the VMs to continue using them for the purposes they are intended. There are other restrictions, such as what can be additionally installed in the VM Windows versions, and what they can be used for.

I find them to be very essential tools for development of my Sites.