[MPlayer-users] mencoder best web video codec

[marco at metm.org]

On Tue, Oct 14, 2003 at 04:29:18AM -0700, rcooley wrote:
> > visible on most computers.
> This is rather vague too.  
Well I may have been vauge but you seem to have understood my question.
Thanks for the responce. 

I would much prefer present my videos on my website in a 'libre' codec.
I am impressed by the quality of the -lavc mpeg4 and h263p compressions
I created, I was a bit let down that I could not view these on non-linux
computers.  I realize that there are many reasons for this, and would
prefer be a part of the solution than borrow a proprietary system to
make my compressions.

> Just about every codec in the world, can work on any computer, once
> you've installed the codecs.  Are you looking for a codec that most
> players support without needing to install an additional codec?
> 
Is there a page somewhere with the compatibility status of the different
codecs?  If I compress a video with X implementation of Y codec what
does someone need to do to watch it on windows and mac?
> As a guess, I'd say you'd want MPEG1 video, and MPEG-1 layer 1/2
> audio.  It's not all that good, but it's probably the only codec that
> every media player is going to support.  As an added bonus, the
> patents on MPEG-1 have long since expired.  
I thought H263 was highly portable, but the H263p's I made aren't
readable.  Is it because I wrapped them in an avi container with an mp3
(which I thought was portable though not 'libre')?  Any experience with
H263 + audio?
> 
> And to make things more fun, mencoder doesn't support the creation of
> mpeg1-layer1/2 audio, and it's mpeg container support isn't too
> impressive.
It seems on first glance that sox doesn't make mpeg1-layer1/2 audio
either.  I have made avi containers of almost any kind of video and
audio stream.  Any idea on the portability status of avi containers?