Archive.org: which format has best quality

Hi

I want to download the version of a film with the best quality. There are 3 versions I'm looking at:


MPEG4: 546.9mg

h.264: 356.4

MPEG2: 895,8


Logically, you'd think the MPEG2 at 895.8 would have the best looking picture. And that might simply be because maybe it's 640x480 while the others might be 320x240. (Unfortunately, my internet connection is so slow, I'd have to go somewhere else to download and check that out.)


Any argument there as to best quality given file size?


Now, if they were all equal in file size, which format is presumably better? The h.264? And between the 2 MPEGs, which is best?


best

elmer

MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.3), null

Posted on Jan 8, 2015 8:09 PM

Reply
3 replies

Jan 8, 2015 8:39 PM in response to elmerlang

It would be handy to post a link to the actual page with the films so we can check them. What you have provided leaves room, as you have indicated.


MPEG2 is standard DVD format but given that a 4GB MPEG2 can squeeze down into a very viewable h264 of <1 GB suggests that they are likely of similar quality. Then too the mpeg4 is a precursor to the h264 and the same video would have compressed to the those two file sizes given the codec capability. In other words they are all likely equivalent though they may differ in other regards. h264 seems to me to produce a better quality video than mpeg4. If there is audio then differing audio codecs may also reflect in file size.


In the end it is really going to come down to what looks best to you, if they are otherwise of a similar picture dimension. Given the information you have provided and seeing the file sizes they basically look like what I'd expect for encoding a single video into the 3 different codecs. All are lossy so take whichever works best with your editing program to minimizing additional recoding steps in your final project.


If you had 3 files of identical size in all 3 formats then the h264 would be the best quality because the others would have had to have had considerable reductions in quality in order to have produced a file of similar size, with the mpeg2 probably being the worst. Basically a 4GB mpeg2 will compress to around 1.2GB mpeg4 and maybe 700-800MB h264 and you probably wouldn't notice much difference in playback quality on a normal TV.

Jan 8, 2015 10:30 PM in response to elmerlang

As Limnos points out, MPEG2 is a DVD format (as well as a television broadcast format.) It is almost always interlaced. Bandwidth tops out at 8Mbps. Usually requires an extra added purchase of the MPEG2 playback codec for quicktime. Avoid it.


MP4 is an older codec format. It doesn't compress as well as H.264. It (occasionally) suffers from audio sync issues as well as dropped frames, bad frames and who knows what else... Avoid it.


H.264 compresses quite well. Of the three formats, it is the most Mac-friendly. No matter where you go for video, H.264 is almost always going to be your best option in terms of your internet connection (if the original encoder cares anything at all about their project.)

Jan 10, 2015 12:23 PM in response to fox_m

Thanks, gentlemen, for your replies! Great info, I need to copy that down. Seems like every year or 2 I ask the same **** question. I hope to remember this time (by copying to word doc, but then where to put it for easy finding, that's the question!). My apologies. 😉


I just wish archive.org noted the frame size before I downloaded it. Small gripe for such a wonderful site.


If you care to look, here's the pages where the flick is, there's different versions at Archive.org:

https://archive.org/details/blood_and_sand_digest

https://archive.org/details/BloodAndSand1922

https://archive.org/details/BLOODANDSAND1922RudolphValentinoNitaNaldiLilaLee


best

elmer

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Archive.org: which format has best quality

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