Best website video formats to use in 2025

Thinking of putting a video on your website? Great idea!

Website videos are great for user engagement and conversions. They allow you to share information about your products and showcase who you are as a brand.

But to ensure the best possible user experience (UX) on your website, you need to think beyond video content and visuals. You also need to consider the video file format you’re going to use.

Here, we look at the best website video formats for 2025 — and how video file types impact your website UX.

Why website video formats matter

Before we explore the best video formats for websites, let’s take a minute to explain why choosing the right format is important.

The format you choose has a big impact on:

• Performance and speed. Video format influences file size. When files are too big, it hurts site speed and the user experience — and your site ranks lower in search engine result pages, too.
• Compatibility. Some video formats only work on specific browsers and devices. So you need to choose file types that work across the browsers and devices your audience tends to use.
• Video quality. The format you choose dictates the quality of your video. The quality you need depends on the type of video you’re embedding on your website.

A good web design and development agency is skilled at working with website video. They know how to find the right balance between video quality and file size. They can also advise on the best formats to use for your particular audience.

What is a codec?

We can’t talk about video file formats without talking about codecs.

A codec (short for compressor-decompressor) is the technology that compresses a video so the file takes up less space. The same technology then decompresses a video so it can play on your website.

Popular codecs include H.264 and VP9. These codecs help to maintain the quality of videos while keeping file sizes small enough for fast loading.

So how do codecs and video formats differ?

The video formats we list below are file types. Files are the containers we use to store video content. Codecs, on the other hand, determine how that content is organised within the container.

When preparing videos for a website, we use file types and codecs to achieve the results we’re looking for.

Best website video formats in 2025

Here are the video formats you should be using for website videos in 2025. They ensure high-quality website video and small file sizes — and they work across most modern browsers and devices.

MP4

MP4 is the most commonly used video file format. It works on nearly every browser and device, making it a reliable option. And it offers a good balance of quality and compression, which makes it ideal for websites and social media videos too.

You can use MP4 files with H.264 compression. You can also use MP4 files with H.265 compression. H.265 is the successor to H.264. It offers better compression and higher-quality video, making it ideal for high-definition content.

However, if you compress an MP4 file with H.265, some older browsers and devices won’t support your video.

WebM

WebM is a video file format developed by Google. They specifically wanted to create a file format for HTML5 that worked well on websites.

WebM encodes and decodes videos with the VP9 codec. You can also use a newer, more effective codec called AVI1.

Even using the older codec (VP9), WebM offers better compression than MP4 with H.264. WebM files are smaller but have the same video quality.

However, there’s a downside to the WebM video file format. It doesn’t work across older devices and browsers as well as an MP4 video. And it doesn’t work on Safari without additional plugins or workarounds.

MOV

MOV is also known as QuickTime. It’s a video file format developed by Apple and is a popular choice with professional video editors thanks to its high-quality output and editing flexibility.

This type of file is easy to edit using video editing software and it allows you to create high-definition videos in relatively small file sizes.

You can compress MOV videos using H.264 or H.265 but you can’t get down to the tiny file sizes of MP4 and WebM file formats.

Another downside of MOV is compatibility. MOV is primarily supported by Safari and Apple devices. So you need to convert your video file to other, web-friendly video formats to ensure it works across all devices.

Web video formats to avoid

Here are some video formats that are so outdated — or so unsuited to the web — that you should avoid them for your website.

WMV

Windows Media Video (WMV) is a file format developed by Microsoft back in the day. This file format is good for sharing videos via email and storing them on a Windows computer.

File sizes are large compared to MP4 and WebM. And, because image quality reduces after every compression, you can’t achieve the sharpness of the best website video formats. These files also only work on Windows OS so have limited compatibility across modern browsers and devices.

AVI

AVI stands for Audio Video Interleave. This video file format works with various codecs, including DivX and XviD, and it produces high-quality video.

While video quality is higher than web-friendly video formats, this translates into large file sizes, unsuited to modern streaming and web use. AVI may also require specialised players to run as compatibility with modern browsers and devices is an issue.

FLV

FLV files are videos saved in the Adobe Flash Video format. This was once the standard for online videos. But since Flash was officially discontinued in 2020, this format is a rarity. Newer file types beat FLV in terms of quality, file size and compatibility. So there’s really no reason to go near this one.

MKV

MKV stands for Matroska Multimedia Container. It is a website file format developed in Russia that is free and open source. It supports high-quality video and compression via a wide range of codecs. However, MKV isn’t supported by many browsers so isn’t a good choice for website videos.

How to pick the best web video format for your site

The best video formats for websites are MP4 and WebM. When deciding between these two options, here are some things to consider:

Your audience

If most visitors use modern browsers and devices, WebM is a good option. However, if some of your users are still wedded to older tech, MP4 offers the best compatibility.

Quality vs. speed requirements

For small videos (like background clips or short ads), you can prioritise fast loading. WebM (with VP9 compression) or MP4 (with H.264 compression) are great at achieving the right balance of quality and speed.

For detailed videos, like demos or tutorials, you may want to use a higher-quality video format. For example, you can use WebM with AV1 or MP4 with H.265 to get high-quality video, while maintaining small file sizes.

The need for testing

Double-check how your videos look and load on desktop, mobile and tablet devices. Some formats will perform better on specific devices or browsers. So you may like to convert your videos to another format to ensure the best possible user experience.

How to convert a video to web-friendly formats

So perhaps you’ve been editing your web video using professional editing software. Or your video has been automatically saved in the default format of your recording device.

How do you get this video file in the right format for your website?

It’s easier than you might think. You can use an online video conversion tool. Simply upload your video file, choose the desired output format, convert your file and download it once the conversion is complete.

Alternatively, you can convert some video files using a media player, like QuickTime or VLC Media Player.

Embedding videos on your website

When it comes to adding a video to your website, you have two main options:

• Host a video on a third-party platform (like YouTube or Vimeo)
• Host the video on your server

Let’s look at each of these options in turn.

Embedding videos with third-party platforms

First, you upload your video to a video platform, like Youtube. You then embed it into your website using the embed code provided.

Pros of this approach:

• It’s really easy
• You don’t put strain on your server or bandwidth, so you ensure a speedy and reliable experience for website users
• Most platforms provide handy compression, analytics, captions and thumbnail tools

Cons of this approach:

• Your video features third-party branding, although you may be able to remove this on paid plans
• Some platforms may try to show related videos or ads
• You have less control over privacy and data

Embedding videos by hosting the video yourself

If you want total control over the look and functionality of your website videos, you need to host them on your own server, then embed them on your website using an HTML video tag.

Pros of this approach:

• Full control over the video file, with no third-party branding or ads
• Your video continues to work even if third-party platforms go down
• Greater flexibility over the design of your video player

Cons of this approach:

• It puts a lot of strain on your server, which may mean slow site speeds or higher server costs
• You’re responsible for video compression, captions and thumbnails

Other considerations when embedding a video

If you want to host the video yourself and minimise the risk to website speeds, there are a few things you can do:

• Use a CDN. A content delivery network (CDN), like Cloudflare, stores copies of your video on multiple servers worldwide. This speeds up the delivery of your video and avoids putting too much strain on a single server.
• Compress your video before uploading. Don’t forget to compress your video before you upload it using compression software. Remember: a lower bitrate means higher compression but potentially lower quality.
• Use lazy loading. Lazy loading means that your video only loads when it is visible on the screen. For example, when a user scrolls down the page. By implementing lazy loading, videos don’t slow down your website’s initial load time. This can improve the overall user experience.

Adding videos to your website with Radical

Choose the right website video formats and you get a high-quality video and a small file size. That means your website visitors get to enjoy crisp visuals and audio — without having to endure slow site loading times.

In 2025, it’s really a decision between WebM and MP4 file formats. You also need to decide which codec to use for compression.

And if you don’t want to deal with formatting, compression and embedding yourself, then leave it to our web developers. The Radical team can format video files and embed videos on your website so they look great and work beautifully.

We also create website videos from scratch. So if you’re looking for ways to improve website engagement and conversion, get in touch with our team today.