Webcasting Formats

From DoWire Wiki

To: Webcasting > Webcasting exchange > Webcasting Technology

The format is the language or technology which is used for the webcasting. Popular technologies include Real, Windows Media and Quicktime. There are several others including MP3 and Ogg audio streaming.

Considerations in deciding on the technology used will depend on the server operating system, the operating system typical target audience uses and budget. A discussion on server platforms is included in the distribution section.

The video format video is encoded in will determine the options of which distribution server can be used for streaming. The distribution server used and the format of encoding will in effect determine which players people can use to access the content.

Often multiple formats are used, in addition to multiple bitrates. This creates more options for clients, but increases production cost.

A price against accessibility is inevitable.

Links:

Deliver your Media – an article on Choosing A Video Format.

Industry Perspectives: Webcasting - A Fragmented Market - an article on webcasting vendors and how they are able to do things well in their silos.

Ogg Vorbis and MP3 offer audiocasting options. Ogg is just starting to be integrated into commercial players other than the popular Winamp. When it is, it's royalty free, unpatented nature will make it a replacement for MP3 which requires a license for commericial use.

Network Computing: Webcasting software – review of tools to interactive webcasting.

Web And Video Conferencing Systems Requiring IE To Work: Time For Strategy Review – an article that addresses Microsoft’s slipping market advantage and concerns about relying on potential users having Microsoft products

What is the best webcast platform for live events? – an article by Robin Good.