Amazon a3- What Video format is preferred? + Upload it to a Webpage Question ??

I think its FLV, but why pay for amazon s3 when you can use the jing free video capture software and set up a free screencast account. where you can up upload videos for free and they even give you the embed code.

Amazon S3 is just a hosting service, so you can put any size or file type you want on there.

I would recommend FLV, though, since it keeps the sizes nice and small to keep your costs down and your load times low. (Although it won't work on iPhones.) Second choice is MP4 (h.264). I like to keep my size at 640x360, which is the normal YouTube size, although this depends on what you're going for.

A reason not to use (free) Jing would be if you don't want the water mark, or if you want to put your videos somewhere private for your members.

Hi

We are now recommending MP4

This means your videos will also play on iWare as well as on Personal computers, TVs, tablets and other web connected devices!

iWare is the one forcing MP4 usage

Check with your encoding support / forum whether the metadata will be at the start of the video... it's a known issue with MP4s

We're introducing a converter to help make it easy to switch to MP4 format..

TomC
Founder eZs3

You are asking the wrong questions.

Here is what effects how fast a video loads:

1. Global location and bandwidth available on the server.
2. Bit rate of the video (not size)
3. Buffer time setting on the player you use
4. Speed of the connection of the user and available bandwidth on their connection.

The type of video or size of the video file does not make any difference for load speed.

I can load and begin playing a video file that is 1 gig just as fast as I can load and play one that is 10 mb.

Encode your video as an flv using vp6 codec or an mp4 using h.264 codec if your video player supports it.

Optimize the bit rate of your video. In other words encode it at the lowest bit rate acceptable for the desired impact of the audience. If its a strait talking head video without much dramatic movement and if the dimensions are smaller in size then try to encode at 220kbps video and 32kbps audio. If your video is larger in dimensions and you need a little more image quality you can take it up a notch but the higher you go in bit rate the more likely that certain people on slower or congested connections will have buffer pausing issues.

As a good rule of thumb never under any circumstance encode any direct response video at higher than 500kbps... and the closer to 250kbps the better (rural us broadband is still quite slow and even commercial wireless connections available at conventions, hotels etc. can be bogged down, and very slow (check out the iPhone 4 and Android 2.2 presentations if you want to see embarrassed presenters trying to load non optimized media during live demonstrations). The same with phone and mobile devices... connection speeds vary widely and can at times be quite slow.

Encoding and optimizing your video is easy and cheap to do:

For mp4 encoding you can use the free encoder: HandBrake

For flv vp6 codec encoding you can grab Flix Standard for just $49 (cheapest legally licensed vp6 encoder) - Flash Presentation, Video & Animation Software | Wildform

The two KEY elements to loading video fast on almost any host are quite simple:

1. Encode your video at a bit rate optimized to be just below the average bit rate of your average website visitor/target market.

2. Use a player that allows you to set your buffer time. If your video is correctly optimized this can be as little as 1 second... but 3 seconds is a good target to.

I am not kidding when I say that file size does not matter. I can load both a 1 gig file and a 10 mb file in just one second and play them to anyone without buffering or pauses just the same. Its the bit rate of the video and the bit rate of the internet connection that matter the most.

These are all basic principles of video optimization.

If the player you use is not flexible and powerful enough to allow you to properly control your buffer time settings and if it does not automatically play any flashplayer or html5 supported video format the instant that someone lands on your site or presses play... then its time to check out some of the solutions that we have developed.

P.S. If you are really obsessed about host performance then this is a great site: http://www.cloudclimate.com/s3/

Hey entry!

I've found that Flash MP4's at 500kbs from Camtasia load the fastest with Amazon S3.

I created a video showing how to convert your videos to mp4's using Camtasia, you can check it out here -
I've been using Camtasia as my encoder, and it's always kept video optimization pretty simple for me.

I strongly recommend it.

I upload the mp4 from Camtasia (to have relatively good quality but to keep the load time down, I keep the video's bit rate below 500kbs) and use Ezs3's HTML 5 player.

For powerpoint and screencast type videos then MP4 videos are definitely the way to go. They give by far the best quality/file size ratio. I would then upload the video to the Amazon S3 Cloudfront Network and use EZS3 to host the video player.

I have been using these resources for a few years and it always produces the fastest loading and best quality videos. Your video can be great but if it takes too long to load then no one will watch it. So I don't recommend FLV videos anymore.