Multimedia Video Formats

The AVI Format

The AVI Audio Video Interleave format was developed
 by Microsoft.The AVI format is supported by all computers
running Windows, and by all the most popular web browsers.
 It is a very common format on the Internet, but not always
 possible to play on non-Windows computers.
Videos stored in the AVI format have the extension .avi.

The Windows Media Format

The Windows Media format is developed by Microsoft.
Windows Media is a common format on the Internet,
but Windows Media movies cannot be played on
 non-Windows computer without an extra free
 component installed. Some later Windows Media
 movies cannot play at all on non-Windows computers
 because no player is available.Videos stored in the
Windows Media format have the extension .wmv.

The MPEG Format

The MPEG -Moving Pictures Expert Group format is the
 most popular format on the Internet. It is cross-platform,
and  supported by all the most popular web browsers.
Videos stored in the MPEG format have the
extension .mpg or .mpeg.

The RealVideo Format

The RealVideo format was developed for the
 Internet by Real Media.The format allows streaming
of video on-line video, Internet TV with low bandwidths.
 Because of the low bandwidth priority, quality is
 often reduced.Videos stored in the RealVideo format
 have the extension .rm or .ram.

The Shockwave -Flash Format

The Shockwave format was developed by Macromedia.
The Shockwave format requires an extra component to play.
 This component comes preinstalled with the latest versions
of Netscape and Internet Explorer.Videos stored in the
 Shockwave format have the extension .swf.