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Video Formats
Why?
In the ever changing world of technology it is hard for the mere mortal to keep up with all the different technologies and the implications associated with them. This page will help break down some simple concepts of the various video formats and discuss some of the impacts these formats may cause in your online course.
There is nothing more frustrating than having your presentation ready to go, with the centerpiece of your lesson being the perfect video it took you all weekend to find and discover, only to find that the entire class has emailed you that they cannot see the video! You can see the video at your home computer, what is the problem? Most likely, the students' computers do not have the capacity to read or play the file. The more complete answer is either the students' computers do not have to correct player or Blackboard does not support the specific file format of your video.
Determining what type of format the video file is will be the first step in solving the confusion. In Blackboard you can go into the content area where the video was uploaded and look at the file extension, or you can go to your computer and find the folder that contains the video file, view the folder in the details view, and see what extension your video file has. If you have linked directly to the video, follow the link and see if there is a file type noted.
Common Formats.
Most video formats come from the base application where the video was recorded. In other words, your camera, or the camera that recorded the video, saves the file in a specific format. Most players are fairly versatile and can play several popular formats. However, there are some formats that can only be played by the application's player. One example of this is a ".ram" or ".ra" format. This format can only be played by the RealPlayer Media player.
Here is a list of common formats:
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.mpg (Moving Picture Experts Group) used for downloadable movies
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.avi (Audio Video Interleave File) created by Microsoft
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.wmv (Windows Media Video File) created by Microsoft
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.swf (Macromedia Flash Movie) Macromedia or Adobe produced files
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.mov (Apple QuickTime Movie) Apple produced video
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.ram or .ra (Real Audio Media) Realplayer produced video
Most video recorders will talk about the various video output options and the format that the camera will default to, as well as the possibility of other formats in which a video can be saved. Also, the editing software may allow you to choose from multiple formats.
Considerations.
The main consideration when looking for videos to insert into your online course has to do with the tools the university has chosen for us to use. At TWU we are limited to what we have loaded on our computers. For playing videos we use Windows Media Player. Windows Media Player can play the above formats with the exception of some ".mov" files, ".ram" and ".ra" file formats. Windows Media Players default file format is the ".wmv" file, so this is our pick for your video use within your Blackboard course.
For more information please read:
Video Equipment
Video Size
Video Upload
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