I’m going to archive some youtube videos, what’s the proper way to change it from mp4 to webm to etc etc or vice versa?

In the past when I couldn’t run a video file for whatever reason I would just rename the file, but I’m assuming there’s better ways to do it. And is there a specific order I have to go in? (e.g. with audio going from .mp3 to .flac doesn’t make sense.)

Thanks in advance.

  • Ashy@lemmy.wtf
    101·
    10 months ago

    There is really no point in changing a video from mp4 to mkv oder webm. It’s just the container. If the video doesn’t play on some devides its because of the codec. If you want it to play on as many devices as possible, You want your videos h264 encoded. For more modern devices you can use HEVC/h265 and safe some space on file size.

    If use ffmpeg for conversion.

    • imkali@lemmy.dbzer0.comOP
      2·
      10 months ago

      Thanks, it’s more for the sake of having it playing comfortably on as many devices as possible without the user having to do anything, even in weird cases, so I guess I’ll convert with ffmpeg.

      • Balder@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        10 months ago

        I agree h264 is probably the most compatible nowadays and most efficient in storage/processing. h265 requires more processing both to convert and to play, which makes older hardware struggle in high resolutions besides is not present in all devices.