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BB FlashBack saves its recordings in FBR (BB FlashBack) format files, ready for reviewing and editing. From FBR format the BB FlashBack Player can then export your footage to a number of other standard media formats: AVI, WMV, Executable and Flash.
The best format to choose depends on the end purpose and audience of your movie. For example: how will the movie be distributed? Is file size a concern to you? How important is compatibility? Below we give a gentle introduction to each format and the purposes each is suited to.
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FBR format
Flash format
EXE format
AVI format
WMV format
Quick format suggestions
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| FBR (FlashBack) Format |
FBR is the native file format of BB FlashBack. When you first record a movie, it will always be saved into an FBR file. While in FBR format, movies can be edited with BB FlashBack, and then exported to any of the other movie formats. FBR files are high quality and usually have the smallest file size of all movie file formats.
For users without BB FlashBack installed, there is a free FBR player available to download from our website. There are no restrictions on use of the Free FlashBack player - you can distribute it with your movies, on any media you choose.
You should always keep a copy of your movie in FBR format in case you want to make editing changes to it later.
FBR Advantages:
- Lossless quality.
- Small file size.
- Editable with the BB FlashBack Player.
- A basic but free edition of FlashBack player is also available.
FBR Drawbacks:
- Requires a FlashBack product to be installed in order to play.
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| Flash Format |
Macromedia Flash is an extremely popular format for playing animated video, particularly over the internet. When you export to Flash from BB FlashBack two files will be produced: a HTML file and a SWF file. The SWF file contains the actual Flash movie, while the HTML file can be opened in a web browser to correctly display the Flash movie.
Flash format requires a small and free plug-in to play, which is installed on the majority of modern PCs. Where not installed this plug-in is quick, easy and free to download from the internet.
When placed online, Flash movies created with BB FlashBack automatically ‘stream’. This means that instead of having to download the entire movie before viewing, the movie begins to play in the webpage while the remainder downloads.
Flash files cannot contain more than 16,000 frames. This puts a limit on the maximum duration of any Flash movie exported, and this maximum duration depends on the frame rate you set on export. BB FlashBack’s default frame rate is 24 frames per second, and works out to roughly ten minutes of footage. If you wanted to make a 20 minute Flash export, you would need to halve the frame rate. Fortunately, there are controls that let you easily do this on the Video tab of the Flash Export Options window.
Flash Advantages:
- High quality.
- Good file sizes.
- The majority of computers have the Flash plug-in required to play Flash files.
- Very suitable for the internet.
- Supports online streaming.
Flash Drawbacks:
- Requires Flash plug-in in order to play.
- Limited to 16,000 frames in length (ten minutes at the default frame rate).
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| EXE (Executable) |
EXE file format is an extremely common file format, used to contain programs of all types. In the case of BB FlashBack EXE exports, the EXE is a small movie playing program with the movie file contained inside.
EXE files require no extra software or plug-ins to be installed in order to play. However, EXE files can carry viruses or other harmful content from computer to computer. For this reason some companies or email systems block EXE files automatically as a general security measure.
EXE Advantages:
- Lossless quality.
- Highly compressed file size.
- Requires no codecs or plug-ins in order to play.
- True full screen display options available upon export.
EXE Drawbacks:
- Blocked by default in some companies or email clients.
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| AVI Format |
AVI is a popular media file format, primarily designed for teleivision-clip like material. Each AVI file is encoded with a “codec”. A codec is responsible for converting the movie information provided by BB FlashBack into the final AVI file, and replaying it upon viewing. Codecs are separate pieces of software to the BB FlashBack program.
When you choose to export to AVI format, BB FlashBack will give you a list of all the AVI codecs currently installed on your computer to choose from. The codec chosen will be used to encode your file. Different codecs produce very different results in terms of file size, quality and export times. The codec you choose upon export must be present on the viewing computer in order to play the movie.
AVI movies are played with common third party media playing programs such as “Windows Media Player, “RealPlayer” and “WinAmp”.
AVI Advantages:
- Choice of codecs allows experimentation with different results.
- Plays in mainstream media players such as Windows Media Player.
- Can be used as a starting point to create playable DVDs.
AVI Drawbacks:
- The codec used to create your movie is required in order to view it.
- Often produces larger file sizes than other file formats.
- Some codecs take a long time to create your AVI movie.
- Some codecs produce reduced visual quality.
- AVI format does not support user interactivity (e.g. ‘click to continue’ pauses).
Read more about exporting to AVI format. |
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| WMV Format |
WMV stands for “Windows Media Video”, and is another popular file type for distributing video-clip type movies. Like AVI format, WMV uses a codec to encode your movie. Codecs convert the movie footage into the final WMV file, and are also used to display it. Codecs are separate pieces of software from BB FlashBack.
Upon exporting to WMV, FlashBack will list all WMV codecs installed on your computer to choose from. The codec chosen will be used to encode your file, and determines the file size and quality.
WMV exports should avoid most of the compatibility problems experienced with AVIs, where the codec chosen on export needs be installed on PCs to play it. PCs with a reasonably recently version of Windows Media Player should be able to play all WMV exports.
WMV movies are also played with common third party media playing programs such as “Windows Media Player, “RealPlayer” and “WinAmp”.
WMV Advantages:
- Choice of codecs allows experimentation with different results.
- Plays in mainstream media players such as Windows Media Player.
- Often higher quality replay than AVI format.
WMV Drawbacks:
- On PCs with older versions of Windows Media Player, there can be compatibilitry problems.
- Often produces larger file sizes than Flash or EXE.
- Some codecs produce reduced visual quality.
- WMV format does not support user interactivity (e.g. ‘click to continue pauses’).
Read more about exporting to WMV and AVI format. |
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| Quick Format Suggestions |
| I am… |
Suggested choices |
Extra notes |
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| Referring my movie for further editing. |
FBR format |
FBR is the only format that supports editing. |
| Posting my movie on the internet. |
Flash format |
Flash format is designed for web use, includes a HTML file ready for inserting into a webpage and supports online streaming. |
Posting my movie on the internet.
And it is too long to be exported to Flash format due to the 16000 frame limit. |
WMV format |
When publishing formats other than Flash on the web, the user downloads the movie before playing it. WMV offers a reasonable file size and quality.
AVI and EXE are also options. EXE format will produce smaller files but may be blocked in some company environments. |
| Sending my movie by email. |
Flash format |
Flash provides a compressed file size and good movie quality. |
| Distributing my movie on a CD-ROM. |
Flash or WMV |
Both these file types usually produce good quality replays. WMV requires the selected codec to be installed in order to play, which you may be able to distribute on the CD. |
| Looking at creating a playable DVD. |
AVI |
AVI is the standard proprietary format for DVD authoring software tools. |
| Looking to get the smallest file size possible. |
Order of preference from first to last: FBR, EXE, Flash, WMV, AVI |
The file size performance of movies highly varies depending upon movie content, but often file sizes follow this order. |
| Looking to get the smoothest and highest quality replay possible. |
EXE or FBR |
EXE and FBR format are generally lossless quality. |
| Need to ensure that my movies can be viewed by non-Windows PCs. i.e. Macintosh or Linux |
Flash or AVI |
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| Trying to ensure my users can definitely view my movies |
EXE or FBR supplied with the free FlashBack player. |
EXE format requires no codecs or plug-ins in order to play.
Some companies block EXE files, so FBR is an alternative viewing format to consider. |
| Working with a very long or very large movie file. |
EXE or WMV |
Both these formats tend to handle longer or larger movie files with the best performance. | |
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