Animation or H.264 Codec

QuicktimeIt’s been a few years now since the release of the H.264 Quicktime codec, and it’s safe to say that it has now cemented its format as the codec of the future.  The majority of video files these days are wrapped in some sort of H.264 codec, but in the world of post production when asked to export a file what should one choose?  The Quicktime Animation codec is still a very popular choice and for good reason.  It gives you basically an uncompressed (or as close to uncompressed as you’ll need) version of whatever video your exporting, in a high quality but also large file size.  The quality is never the question amongst those handling the video, but the file size can be, so enter H.264.  The Quicktime H.264 codec offers a good quality but much much smaller size video.  So what’s the big deal?  Why not just always use H.264? 

Well, here’s the rub.  If your sending the file to a client over the internet ( via email, FTP etc ), or even just to put on a cd/dvd then H.264 is your choice.  Even if your using it to convert to flash for web viewing or streaming I would go with the H.264.  However, if you are exporting a file for the purposes of re-importing into another program ( ie animation, graphics or editing ) then without a doubt you need to export with the Animation codec.    Yes it may be a larger file size ( much larger ) but you’ll be giving the best quality possible, and aside from an uncompressed format the Animation codec is going to give you the best options for further working with the file. 

The H.264 codec has certainly evolved over the past few years with even blu ray rips being wrapped in the format.  But from a post production standpoint, make sure you know when to use it and when not too.

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