YouTube videos

YouTube is used as a tool for people to share their videos either publicly or to just a selected few. It’s one of the most popular websites on the internet now and it’s because more people are uploading more new videos every day. Millions of videos are being watched here every day and it’s either directly from the website itself or from other sites with YouTube embedded videos.

What is the reason why YouTube is so popular? It’s really not the technology behind it that makes it so popular but it’s really the experience. YouTube uses very simple technology for their videos from uploading to its embedding and sharing. Its simplicity is actually what makes YouTube so popular.

The format for videos that can be accepted on YouTube are .mov, .mpeg, .avi, .wmv and .mp4 and when they have been uploaded you can then download them from the YouTube website as an .flv format or flash video format. YouTube uses an Adobe Flash Technology which is why the downloaded version is on a flash video format.

Since it is flash-based, it’s no wonder why they also use a video playback method known as MacroMedia Flash Player 7 with H.265 of Sorenson Spark video codec. This codec makes the video be of high quality comparable to videos played on Quicktime and Windows Media Player. The advantage of MacroMedia Flash Player 7 is that you don’t need to download any additional plug-ins for your web browser because it’s already pre-installed.

YouTube limits the length of the video though to only about 10 minutes per video. This is because some members would post an entire movie that violates the copyright law. The quality of the video is also reduced if it exceeds the 320x240 pixels and 314kbit/s bit rate.

For iPhones and Apple TV, you can still watch YouTube videos because it also is encoded using H.264 video. Apple users can enjoy YouTube after just installing a simple update.

YouTube doesn’t allow their visitors to download their videos but there are many YouTube downloaders circulating already that now they decided to incorporate this as well. News about YouTube making downloading of videos legal has already circulated.

There are many similar websites right now but none can compare in terms of popularity with YouTube.