What video format should we use on xwiki.org?

Development
1

Hi devs,

Our doc guideline is available at https://dev.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Community/DocGuide but it fails to have a section for videos.

I’ve checked 2 release notes where a video was used and I see 2 formats are being used:

Sometimes there’s also animated GIF that is used, but it was discussed in Documentation best practices: GIF images and the doc was updated by Lucas.

So what format should we use?

I’d say webm seems the best because:

  • It results in smaller files and is standard-compatible
  • mp4 has higher quality but I don’t see the need for videos of XWiki UIs

What I’ve found on the web:

For streaming and uploading videos, WebM is the better option because it’s highly compatible with modern browsers and popular for HTML5. For higher-quality playback and compatibility with more devices, MP4 might be more appropriate.31

We could also decide to support both.

WDYT?

Thanks

2

BTW we currently support both in https://www.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/ReleaseNotes/Code/Change/ChangeDisplayerVelocityMacros?viewer=code#19 (using the {{html5video}} macro).

3

I’ve also noticed that use the following on e.x.o to display videos:

{{html clean="false"}}
<!-- FIXME: We badly need a video macro... -->
<video controls muted src="https://extensions.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/download/Extension/Realtime%20WYSIWYG%20Editor/WebHome/realtimeWysiwygEditor.webm" width="780">
  Sorry, your browser doesn't support embedded videos.
</video>
{{/html}}

That’s not very nice…

I’m proposing to install the embed macro https://extensions.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Extension/Embed%20macro/

(we could also install the video macro https://extensions.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Extension/Video%20Macro but it’s mentioned as being obsoleted by the embed macro).

WDYT?

4

+1

And +1 for webm based on your explanations.

5

+1

+1 to recommend using webm. No idea if it should be the only allowed format or not, I guess people are going to use other formats if they work anyway.

6

Thanks for your search on this topic!
+1 to use webm, with your explanations it seems like a file format that’s more adapted to our use. I definitely recorded and uploaded mostly .mp4, I’ll take care to switch to webm from now on :+1:

7

I’ve now:

Thx

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