I guess this is too basic but ... (re file size, type, and quality)

[Mighty Melvin]

Believe it or not, I've been Googling and looking around here for an answer and have not been skillful enough to find it.

Here: I'm looking at an Archive.com page for an old commercial movie. They say that I can download a "512kb MPEG4" at 274 mb, or a "DivX" at 700 mb. I kind of apprehend, correctly or not, that a DivX is a fancy MPEG4, so does the larger file size of the DivX selection imply that I might get a better-looking movie from it?

I guess the basic question is how much can I judge the quality of what is offered by looking at the file sizes?

Thanks

MM

[Baldrick]

Yup, bigger file size means higher video bitrates which usually means better quality if similar video codec used.


But PLEASE change your subject so it better describes the topic. "This is too basic" doesn't say anything. Click on the edit-button on your first post to change it.

[Mighty Melvin]

How's that?

Thanks

M

[unlurk]

larger file size movie is larger but better looking

[jagabo]

file size = bitrate * running time

Divx and Xvid are an MPEG 4 part 2.

h.264, AVC, x264 are MPEG 4 part 10, capable of greater compression than Divx and Xvid.

The MP4 files from archive.org are AVC. The relative quality will depend on the skills of the person doing the encoding as well as the encoder that was used. The best files I've seen from archive.org are interlaced MPEG2 encoded. The Divx and MP4 files are usually poorly encoded from those with blend deinterlacing.