I've produced a series of slideshows which I hope to sell to Windows users as well as to sensible people like us. .mp4 and .mov files are OK for us but would either of them be OK for those other poor people?
mov files seem to be bigger and therefore hold more information but I can't really tell the difference between them and the mp4 files. mov is an Apple format but Windows can read them. mp4 seems to be a more common format.
I think resolution is the key. The higher the resolution the better looking the video. You will be able to see what they are like on your own screen.
Thanks Rick, there does seem to be a slight difference in the aspect ratios, i.e. the icons on the desktop are both 17mm wide, .mov is about 10mm deep and mp4 is about 12 mm deep. This includes the black bars at top and bottom. Ignoring those, the actual image of the mp4 is about 1mm taller. However,even on my 27inch iMac I can't detect any difference when I play them. I'll go with the mp4 I think...
.mov is a container format originally developed by Apple. "Container" means that it can contain all sorts of different formats so it's not a terribly reliable way of specifying files.
MP4 (MPEG-4) is a general purpose format and probably a good choice. It's the most common thing to find in a .mov file...
You may be able to control the size (resolution) of the image in either or both outputs.
Eric Jervis 