I have to include a video file in Microsoft Powerpoint format, and make it compatible for both Mac and PC. I found that wmv works best for PC and mov/mp4 works best for Mac, but none of them works for both without extra plugin.
I have to send the Powerpoint file and I don't know if the recipient uses Mac or PC, or has some codecs/plugins; I don't know even who the recipient is.
Any suggestions?
Best Answer
Without any additional codecs installed, Windows and OS X don't share a lot in common.
In the order of popularity and age:
Both of the above should work in Windows 7, but there's of course Vista and XP as well. Now we're talking old:
Yes, I'm not joking. This is the least common denominator. You can find a list of supported video codecs for Windows Media Player under Windows XP from Microsoft. It basically says: "Only Microsoft-specific stuff". Here's what they have to say:
Emphasis mine. I won't add any further comment to that, but you can guess that it's just wrong to say that Windows Media Video is among the "most popular codecs".
On the Mac, it's not a big issue to decode most of the above mentioned, I'm pretty sure that only Windows Media Video can't be played back on a recent Mac (running 10.5 and above) without additional codecs.