MP4 as a container, H.264 (AVC) for the video track, AAC for the audio track - this video file format is playable everywhere. Windows, Linux, Mac, PS3, PSP, iPhone... if the kitchen sink had a display, it would probably play it.
When I get a new file, if it's playable on the devices where it's supposed to be viewed, I don't do anything. Otherwise, I convert it to the format indicated above. No deliberation, I just convert it by default to MP4 AVC/AAC. Often I'll use MeGUI if I need some kind of GUI to simplify the process.
Very often, .flv files from Youtube are just AVC/AAC (I think they use x264 to encode the video track) encapsulated as Flash - a simple re-encapsulation (ffmpeg on Linux, Yamb on Windows) solves the problem and - voila - the result is an MP4 that is playable pretty much anywhere.
Blu-Ray and AVCHD disks use AVCHD (H.264 at high rez) almost always. HD camcorders use AVCHD. And so on.
So, I guess my point is - H.264 is already used by many people. It's more or less everywhere. Very likely, it's here to stay.
MP4 as a container, H.264 (AVC) for the video track, AAC for the audio track - this video file format is playable everywhere. Windows, Linux, Mac, PS3, PSP, iPhone... if the kitchen sink had a display, it would probably play it.
When I get a new file, if it's playable on the devices where it's supposed to be viewed, I don't do anything. Otherwise, I convert it to the format indicated above. No deliberation, I just convert it by default to MP4 AVC/AAC. Often I'll use MeGUI if I need some kind of GUI to simplify the process.
Very often, .flv files from Youtube are just AVC/AAC (I think they use x264 to encode the video track) encapsulated as Flash - a simple re-encapsulation (ffmpeg on Linux, Yamb on Windows) solves the problem and - voila - the result is an MP4 that is playable pretty much anywhere.
Blu-Ray and AVCHD disks use AVCHD (H.264 at high rez) almost always. HD camcorders use AVCHD. And so on.
So, I guess my point is - H.264 is already used by many people. It's more or less everywhere. Very likely, it's here to stay.