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MP4 vs WebM

Comparing MPEG-4 Part 14 and WebM Video - which format should you use?

	MP4	WebM
Full Name	MPEG-4 Part 14	WebM Video
Extension	.mp4	.webm
MIME Type	video/mp4	video/webm
Category	video	video

MP4 Pros

+Universal playback support
+Efficient H.264/H.265 compression
+Supports subtitles and multiple audio tracks
+Standard for web and mobile video

MP4 Cons

-H.265 has patent licensing issues
-Editing requires re-encoding
-Not ideal for lossless archival
-Large files for high-quality long content

WebM Pros

+Royalty-free and open source
+Excellent compression for web
+Native browser support (Chrome, Firefox, Edge)
+AV1 codec option for best compression

WebM Cons

-No Safari support (use MP4 fallback)
-Limited editing software support
-Less universal than MP4
-Hardware decoding varies

Use MP4 when...

-Web video (YouTube, social media)
-Mobile video recording
-Streaming services
-Video downloads and distribution

Use WebM when...

-Web video streaming
-HTML5 video elements
-YouTube (internal format)
-WebRTC video calls

Learn more about MP4 Learn more about WebM