Flash File Format and Compression

Camtasia Studio > Produce video as > Custom production settings > MP4/FLV/SWF – Flash Output > Next > Flash Options button > Video tab

File Format

The Flash output (MPEG-4, FLV or SWF) creates a high quality, low file size video for playback on multiple Web browsers. Select the Flash file format:

MPEG-4 (Recommended): Offers the best compression for both screen recordings and high motion videos.

FLV: The FLV format should be used for Web playback when the Flash video player accepts the FLV format and does not accept MPEG-4 AVC.

SWF: Ideal for producing short videos (approximately 15 minutes or less) that do not contain a great deal of motion, such as transitions, Zoom-n-Pan keyframes, or animation.

MP4 and FLV Options

Option	Description
Frame rate	The Automatic option preserves the highest frame rate for all clips on the Timeline. To decrease the file size, select a lower frame rate. Decreasing the frame rate to reduce the bandwidth required by the video stream may cause the video to appear choppy during playback.
Key frame every	Key frames determine accuracy when seeking through a video. To decrease file size, increase the number of seconds between key frames.
Encoding mode	The Quality (strongly recommended) encoding mode allows the bitrate to vary as needed to achieve a given quality without unnecessarily increasing file size. The Bitrate encoding mode sets the maximum data transfer rate (in Kbps). A lower bitrate produces a smaller file size but may decrease the video quality.

SWF Options

Option	Description
Colors	The Automatic option preserves the highest color settings for all clips on the Timeline. To decrease the file size, select a lower color depth. Decreasing the color depth degrades the quality of the produced video.
Frame rate	The Automatic option preserves the highest frame rate for all clips on the Timeline. To decrease the file size, select a lower frame rate. Decreasing the frame rate to reduce the bandwidth required by the video stream may cause the video to appear choppy during playback.
Use JPEG compression and quality slider	JPEG compression loses some image quality. 100% is the highest quality for the compressed video and 10% is the lowest. Higher image quality results in larger file sizes for the produced video.
Compressed SWF (Recommended)	(ExpressShow template only) Compresses the SWF video file. Disable the Compressed SWF option when embedding the produced video into a PDF or PowerPoint presentation.