Video just got better
By popular demand, we have increased our video limits. You can now upload any video up to 10 minutes in length, up from 5 minutes previously. The per-video file size limit has been increased from 1GB to 1.5GB. We chose this super-large file size limit to allow customers to upload any video that fits within the time limit without thinking about the file size. There are some point and shoot cameras, such as the Canon Powershot cameras, that create very large video files. With our limits, you can drop those videos in without thinking about their size.
As before, we convert each video into two versions, one for web streaming, the other for archive. The webstreaming version is encoded at 768 kilobits/second in Flash format. The DVD-quality version is encoded at 3 megabits/second in MPEG 4 format. Flash was chosen because it is widely compatible with most web browsers. MPEG 4 was chosen for the archival encoding because most video enthusiasts like the format and it is a modern codec, providing good data compression and high quality.
Both the webstreaming version and archival MPEG 4 version are available for download on customer websites. Note that we used to use Flash for the archival version and, as of now, we have not gone back and re-converted older video to MPEG 4. Also, we actually don’t always convert your video for the archival version. If you give us a video that is under 3 megabits/second, we keep the exact video you uploaded as the archival version.
We have also worked hard to deploy more resources for video conversion so you should see you video appear on the website in Flash form sooner than before.
Overall, we believe our video sharing experience is second to none. We convert a wide variety of formats, allow HUGE files, keep an archival version as well as a web version, and incorporate videos directly into our slide shows. Enjoy.
