I’m getting more and more requests to put video (and audio) up on websites. I usually get a file (or CD or DVD) from my client and convert it to a few friendly formats (video: mov, avi, mp4, mpg, etc.; audio: mp3) and then upload them and make links. However, there are some downsides to this method.

  • Immediate satisfaction: unless it’s streaming video, the visitor to the site will usually have to wait until the video/audio is completely downloaded/loaded before he/she hears or sees anything. If the file is large, that’s probably longer than they’re willing to wait.
  • Bandwidth: if they are large files and you get some traffic on your site, the media files will eat up traffic faster than you can say “Upgrade.”
  • Quality: again depending on server speed, the video may skip or stutter. This can happen with hosted video, too, however.
  • Format: you will probably need to convert (time consuming and error prone) to several formats of video so that Mac and PC users can all see your video. Conversion can lead to quality loss and sometimes synching issues.

A more efficient and effective option is to embed the video and host it elsewhere (e.g. Google Video, YouTube, etc.). Here are the upsides to this method:

  • Immediate loading: the video will stream from its source so start playing almost immediately after the visitor presses play.
  • Bandwidth savings: the actual traffic/bandwidth for that video is on Google’s servers, which, by the way, are probably faster than yours!
  • Format: if it’s playing on YouTube, you can be quite certain that most browsers can see it. If not, they’re more willing to download a little plugin for future YouTube videos as well. It’s also a common plugin (Flash) rather than whatever video format you’re trying to use on your own uploaded video (e.g. QuickTime).

There are some tradeoffs with hosting video elsewhere.

  • Screenshot: if you want to choose the exact image or screenshot of the video, you may get lucky, you may not. Google Video doesn’t (yet) allow you to choose which screenshot will appear before your video starts playing. YouTube will let you choose from a randomly selected handful of shots. Advantage: YouTube
  • Branded: your video will show a little logo of Google Video or YouTube on your video (or at least in the frame).
  • Size/length: last time I looked, YouTube wouldn’t let you upload anything longer than 10 minutes. But hey, this is the web, who has 10 minutes anyway?

    • My preference? Embed YouTube in your site.