Web video

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A web video , also known as internet video or online video , is a video that is primarily distributed over the World Wide Web . These can be simple video clips as well as extensive film productions . Web videos are mainly used via video portals such as B. YouTube , Dailymotion or Vimeo . A series of web videos is called a web series .

Emergence

Although it was technically possible to deliver a video over the Internet with AVI from 1992 and compressed in RealVideo format from 1997, slow Internet connections and weak computers were opposed to this. It was not until the advent of broadband connections from 2003 and the emergence of video portals that it became widespread and popular.

commitment

Web videos are used:

  • for entertainment with target group-relevant topics (music, shows, interviews, etc.)
  • for information (training courses, online seminars, etc.)
  • for marketing and advertising (image videos, product presentations, etc.)

The most common forms of production for web videos:

  • Slide show with still images cut together to make a web video
  • Filming the computer screen using screen capture software
  • Web video creation using video editing software - without the use of a camera
  • classic film production with digital video camera

Cultural phenomenon

The emergence of new distribution channels, in particular video platforms such as YouTube from 2005, made it possible to publish web videos easily and inexpensively. This created a kind of clip culture . In contrast to longer formats, such as those predominantly found on television , only short videos, usually no longer than 15 minutes, are produced here and then made available on the Internet. A video that spreads extremely quickly on the Internet through viral distribution is called a viral video .

Another development is the emergence of video blogs , so-called vlogs .

technology

For viewing web videos, the provider needs software that provides the content. The source material must be brought into a format intended for transmission . At least one media player , a player , is required on the user side .

A rough distinction can be made between two types of transmission of video material on the Internet:

  • With so-called streaming , the content is continuously reloaded in small data packages and at the same time seamlessly played back to the user by the playback software. This fragmented transmission is particularly common for live content and video-on-demand offers. As codecs competed ten years ago especially the Real Media - and the WMV format.
  • In addition, video content can also be embedded directly in websites.
    The Flash format had established itself as the transmission format. To use it, the playback software is required directly in the browser and the user must install a so-called browser plug-in , the Flash Player . The playback functionality is not offered by the browser, but by additional software (from Adobe) that is integrated into it, with further security gaps and user tracking. This has the disadvantage that the user has to install this software - in addition to the browser - and constantly update it. The process has never been standardized and Flash Player is not a freely available technology.
    In contrast, the HTML5 standard provides, among other things, a <video> element to allow videos to be displayed by the browser itself. The original plan was to include a codec required to decode the material in the HTML5 specification. The browser manufacturers disputed which codec was the right one. Opposite each other were the free Theora codec and the proprietary H.264 . Both had technical as well as patent law advantages and disadvantages. At the end of June 2009,     Ian Hickson , who was the only one with write authorization for the HTML5 standard (Google employee), rejected a specific codec in an email to the WHATWG mailing list. This means that no uniform standard has been set for the codec to be made available by the browser. From 2011 put Google, which is also the market- dominant browser Chrome or Chromium offers and Youtube, it initiated WebM by format.

literature

Web links

Wiktionary: Web video  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b ctmagazin comment: Die Woche: Alle gegen Microsoft heise.de, April 16, 2009
  2. ^ Jens Ihlenfeld: HTML 5: Dispute about Ogg Theora. In: golem.de. December 11, 2007, accessed December 19, 2014 .
  3. ↑  Eike Kühl: Web specifications: New network functions thanks to HTML5. In: zeit.de. July 15, 2010, accessed December 19, 2014 .
  4. ↑ Jens Ihlenfeld: WebM: VP8 is open source. In: golem.de. May 19, 2010, accessed December 19, 2014 .