Which option is better, WebM or MP4?
If you need to upload some video files to online streaming sites like YouTube or Vimeo, or even upload videos online, you can find two options: WebM and MP4.
Which is the best option? When you need to export a video file from Premiere Pro or After Effects, will you choose WebM or MP4? Can you download videos to your Android phone using WebM? Here are the answers you should know from the article.
WebM and MP4
H.264 / AAC MP4 and VP8 / Vorbis WebM are the two main compression settings for HTML5. What are the differences between MP4 and WebM? If you need to choose the best one, please check the information below.
Video size WebM VS MP4
When you need to upload video files to your library, will you choose WebM or MP4? Since WebM is specifically designed for streaming over the Internet, WebM is much smaller compared to MP4. If you need to download online videos quickly, you can also choose the WebM format to get the files easily.
Video quality WebM VS MP4
It is difficult to compare the difference between WebM and MP4 in video quality. Since WebM is designed specifically for the Internet, H.264 MP4 offers slightly higher video quality than the VP8 codec used by WebM due to its compression ratio. But GPU and hardware acceleration to decode H.264 is much more efficient than VP8 WebM, it requires less CPU resources to play MP4 files than WebM. But due to frequent WebM updates from Google, after a while WebM may improve in video quality. (Find a method to improve video quality)
Comparison chart MP4 VS WebM
Technical conditions WebM MP4
Video codec VP8 or VP9 video codec, compressed audio streams with Vorbis or Opus audio codecs and WebVTT text tracks. AVC MPEG-4 and H.264 video codecs.
Streaming Support WebM is a video format designed for streaming over the Internet. MP4 is compatible with most streaming devices and sites.
Compatible with web browsers Firefox 4 or later, Opera 10.60 or later, Chrome 6 and later, IE 9 and later, and other limited players. Most of the media players and web browsers.
Compatible with portable devices Not compatible with mobile devices. All portable devices, iPhone, Android, Sony and Microsoft phones.
How to play WebM files on smartphones?
If you want to play WebM files on your iPhone or Android phone, you can download VLC Media Player or MX Player to play videos. Of course, you can also download the WebM codec to play videos in Chrome, Safari, and other browsers. Converting WebM to MP4 is another convenient way to play videos on your smartphone with ease.
Conclution
When you need to choose the right option for uploading videos to online streaming sites, you can get an idea of how to select WebM and MP4 in the article. In addition to the detailed comparison between WebM and MP4, you can also read more about the FAQ and the conversion of the two file formats from the article.
