What is the best and common format for video?

Question

What is the best and common format for video file? avi,mpg,mpeg,rm,flv?

I've downloaded some videos from the net but apparently my new laptop cannot play them.If possible, I would like to avoid installing lots of third party software for playing all sorts of format and standardize all my video in one format.

Answer 1

You can find the list of video formats in the website mentioned below.

The best of them would be .wmv or .mpg as they can be played by most of the players. Hence easy for distribution.

Answer 2

mpeg4 or wmv

Answer 3

.avi is probably the most common.  Also important is how the video is encoded.  XviD and DivX are popular because they can be viewed on DVD players without conversion.

VLC is a popular free media player that will play most anything downloaded:

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

Either that or Media Player Classic with the KLite Mega Codec pack:

http://www.free-codecs.com/download/K_Li...

I have both.  VLC plays 95% of my stuff and MPC plays the others.