A variety of video formats exist worldwide, all of which have their advantages. Often, the conversion from one format to another is desired, for example, to play the file with another media player. Here you will find practical and free tools with which you can convert your video files to other formats at the push of a button. 

Online video converter: easily convert videos 

As we have mentioned, there are many video formats, and all have their features and advantages for various uses. But what if a video file is in the wrong format, does not work properly on the computer or Mac, or is not compatible with a media player? Youtube to mp4 converters that can be used online can help quickly and easily. Such options are the best if you don’t need to convert hundreds of videos daily. 

Convert videos: all you should know

There is a large selection of possible video formats worldwide, and there is no general answer to which format is the best. If you want to convert a video, you should ask yourself what purpose the video is intended for. A smaller file size is suitable for a YouTube or Vimeo video. If you want to convert a film into a DVD, excellent sound and video quality are much more important.

Basically, a video format describes the audiovisual specifications of a video, which are housed in so-called containers. This includes:

• the image resolution and the resulting aspect ratio;
• the frame rate (number of images played back per second);
• the color depth;
• the soundtrack.

Sound and images are compressed in these containers with so-called codecs, i.e., downscaled to smaller data packets using unique algorithms. The codec used during conversion ultimately determines the sound and image quality and the final file size. A lossless codec achieves the best quality, but the video file remains very large in the end.

Convert videos: formats at a glance

As we have mentioned, with the help of modern tools, one can convert videos into diverse formats. Well-known video formats include the following:

• MPEG-1: Video files with the “Motion Picture Expert Group” format end in .mpg or -mpeg and are recognized and played by almost every device. It is one of the oldest video formats introduced by a group of experts on video compression in the 80s. However, it doesn’t support HD and is no longer recommended when converting videos today.
• MPEG-2: Digital television and DVD producers rely on the further development of the MPEG-1 format. Here, too, the file extension is .mpg or .mpeg. Cameras also play the format as a .ts file, DVDs possibly as a .vob.
• MPEG-4: The video format MPEG-4 is prevalent on the web. It scores with high HD picture quality and small file sizes. Files in this format end in .mp4 or, for Apple, in .m4v.
• QuickTime: This video format comes from Apple and is particularly often used for professional conversion and editing of videos with programs such as Adobe Premiere or Final Cut. The ending is .mov and, as is so often the case with Apple products, video files of this type are only supported by selected media players.
• AVI: Microsoft’s answer to Apple’s QuickTime is AVI (Audio Video Interleave). Numerous devices and players play .avi files; the image quality is good with a comparatively small footprint.
• WMF/ASF: The “Advanced System Format” is an improved successor to the AVI format. Files with the extension .asf or .wmv can be streamed and can be enriched with more information than the .avi predecessor. Video files of this type are ideal for web content, but the format is nowhere near as common as MPEG-4.
• MKV: Anyone who operates a home theater system is familiar with .mkv files. The format is named after the Russian matryoshka dolls, as a lot of information can be elegantly packed in the container. Different codecs are allowed, as well as a lot of additional information. Be careful when converting videos to this format: some end devices cannot handle the wealth of information.
• FLV and 3GP: Flash videos have the file extension .flv and are designed for video playback on the Internet and on smartphones. If you want to convert a video for YouTube, the .flv format is currently the first choice. The files become extremely small, but the sound and picture quality often suffers. The same applies to .3gp files that are designed for playback on smartphones or tablets.
• WebM: When it comes to converting web videos, the WebM format is increasingly at the forefront. It is based on MKV and was specially developed for use with the HTML5 web standard. In the long term, it should replace Flash files. .webm files are space-saving, protect the processor, and can be integrated into HTML5 pages without additional plugins.

Convert videos for YouTube 

As already described above, some video formats are particularly suitable for use on the Internet because the files are optimally compressed and still impress with image and sound quality. But what does that mean in detail? What formats do the major video platforms and social networks support? 

Basically, YouTube, Vimeo, and Facebook support almost all common formats presented above. MPEG-4, Flash, 3GPG and WebM are particularly recommended for online use. Facebook explicitly recommends MP4 or MOV files; Vimeo is less precise and requires users to deal with the optimal setting and conversion themselves.