File Formats for podcasting and Geezers – PHD031

The Old Podcasting Geezer here :) See Quick Hits 1 for that story.
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File format
mp3 for Audio and mp4 for Video. Other formats have limitations.

Audio formats other than mp3 that will work (sort of)
m4a/AAC works on Apple devices, Android and most PC software. May not work on Microsoft Phones, Blackberry or other media players (mostly older ones)

Ogg/vorbis - Mostly a linux / open source thing.

WMA (Windows Media) Works with Microsoft products/software. (Not recommended for podcasting)

.wav, flac and formats like that will not work (and are many times larger files than mp3)

Bottom line, Use MP3. I suggest either 64kbps Mono or 128kbps Stereo encoding @ 44.1khz. At 128 Stereo, you get about 1mb a minute of audio. At 64 mono, you get about 2min per mb.

Video Formats other than mp4 that will work (sort of)
M4V This is Apple’s version of mp4. It’s almost identical to mp4, other than it adds extra “stuff” for iPads, iPhones, AppleTV and iTunes.

Ogg Theora. This is the Linux / Open Source video format.

FLV This is flash video. Not great for podcasting. It used to be good for websites, but will not work on iThingys or android (most of them)

WebM (VP8) This is Google’s supported HTML5 video format. Hasn’t really gotten too much traction but if you are doing video, it’s not a bad idea to make a version of your show in this format for supported browsers.

Bottom Line, Use mp4. (with maybe a webm/vp8 version for the player on your website) Encode using h264 and AAC audio.
.MOV and mpeg files will not work.

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Blubrry Tip of the Week - Service Settings and Program Listing settings

I don’t know how many times I get someone that asks me a question that requires me to look at their feed and when I look at their blubrry.com listing, they didn’t include that in the settings. It causes a few back and forth emails that could be avoided.

The other reasons for having your blubrry.com “Service settings” and “Program Listing settings” filled out:

Your blubrry.com listing won’t be populated unless you give us your feed address. It’s kind of pointless to be listed and have nothing there.
People that use “smartcast” (Which is a lot) won’t be able to subscribe to your show in that feature.
Your show will not be included in the Set Top Box and Android Blubrry App

The Service settings let our system know if you are going to be using the blubrry.com provided website and feed (Yes, you can do that but it’s not recommended) or if you are on your own Wordpress Blog using powerpress. These settings customize the menus you see at Blubrry.com in the manage account area and tell us in support how you are setup. You will get much quicker service if you do this.

Service Settings (hosting users only)

The 3 selections you have there are:

1.Publish from your own WordPress blog with PowerPress plugin
2. Publish from Blubrry to homepage provided by Blubrry
3. Publish from Blubrry to your own blog

*** Do not use the 3rd option unless you REALLY know what you are doing. It has to do with the “Meta WebLog API” which *almost* nobody uses.

Program Listing settings

These are just simple info about your podcast. The RSS Feed URL and you iTunes listing URL. (basic stuff) and the Category you want your blubrry listing to be in and the Parental rating. There is more things here if you are going to be using Blubrry’s feed (again, not recommended) where you can put your artwork and a few other settings.

Even if you don’t use blubrry.com for anything, it’s a good idea to have your show listed in the blubrry directory (Explore Page).

_____________________
Use the promo code "nobs" for a free month of podcast hosting at any level at blubrry.com
The promo code also works for blubrry premium
statistics 1 month free by using the promo code nobs.
_____________________

Be Everywhere?

As Paul Colligan said on his show “The Podcast Repor...

The Old Podcasting Geezer here 🙂 See Quick Hits 1 for that story.

__________________________

File format

mp3 for Audio and mp4 for Video. Other formats have limitations.

Audio formats other than mp3 that will work (sort of)

m4a/AAC works on Apple devices, Android and most PC software. May not work on Microsoft Phones, Blackberry or other media players (mostly older ones)

Ogg/vorbis – Mostly a linux / open source thing.

WMA (Windows Media) Works with Microsoft products/software. (Not recommended for podcasting)

.wav, flac and formats like that will not work (and are many times larger files than mp3)

Bottom line, Use MP3. I suggest either 64kbps Mono or 128kbps Stereo encoding @ 44.1khz. At 128 Stereo, you get about 1mb a minute of audio. At 64 mono, you get about 2min per mb.

Video Formats other than mp4 that will work (sort of)

M4V This is Apple’s version of mp4. It’s almost identical to mp4, other than it adds extra “stuff” for iPads, iPhones, AppleTV and iTunes.

Ogg Theora. This is the Linux / Open Source video format.

FLV This is flash video. Not great for podcasting. It used to be good for websites, but will not work on iThingys or android (most of them)

WebM (VP8) This is Google’s supported HTML5 video format. Hasn’t really gotten too much traction but if you are doing video, it’s not a bad idea to make a version of your show in this format for supported browsers.

Bottom Line, Use mp4. (with maybe a webm/vp8 version for the player on your website) Encode using h264 and AAC audio.

.MOV and mpeg files will not work.

________________________

Blubrry Tip of the Week – Service Settings and Program Listing settings

I don’t know how many times I get someone that asks me a question that requires me to look at their feed and when I look at their blubrry.com listing, they didn’t include that in the settings. It causes a few back and forth emails that could be avoided.

The other reasons for having your blubrry.com “Service settings” and “Program Listing settings” filled out:

Your blubrry.com listing won’t be populated unless you give us your feed address. It’s kind of pointless to be listed and have nothing there.

People that use “smartcast” (Which is a lot) won’t be able to subscribe to your show in that feature.

Your show will not be included in the Set Top Box and Android Blubrry App

The Service settings let our system know if you are going to be using the blubrry.com provided website and feed (Yes, you can do that but it’s not recommended) or if you are on your own WordPress Blog using powerpress. These settings customize the menus you see at Blubrry.com in the manage account area and tell us in support how you are setup. You will get much quicker service if you do this.

Service Settings (hosting users only)

The 3 selections you have there are:

1.Publish from your own WordPress blog with PowerPress plugin

2. Publish from Blubrry to homepage provided by Blubrry

3. Publish from Blubrry to your own blog

*** Do not use the 3rd option unless you REALLY know what you are doing. It has to do with the “Meta WebLog API” which *almost* nobody uses.

Program Listing settings

These are just simple info about your podcast. The RSS Feed URL and you iTunes listing URL. (basic stuff) and the Category you want your blubrry listing to be in and the Parental rating. There is more things here if you are going to be using Blubrry’s feed (again, not recommended) where you can put your artwork and a few other settings.

Even if you don’t use blubrry.com for anything, it’s a good idea to have your show listed in the blubrry directory (Explore Page).

_____________________

Use the promo code “nobs” for a free month of podcast hosting at any level at blubrry.com

The promo code also works for blubrry premium

statistics 1 month free by using the promo code nobs.

_____________________

Be Everywhere?

As Paul Colligan said on his show “The Podcast Repor…