The following is a brief introduction to eight of the most frequently-encountered video formats circulating the web and the digital home entertainment circuit: MPG, AVI, MOV, ASF, WMV, RM and FLV. MPG (MPEG) MPG stands for Moving Picture Experts Group (driven by Microsoft's early need to force every file into a three-letter extension box, MPEG has evolved by dropping the "E" to become MPG). So, technically, MPG is more of a title than a file format. Even so, it has shifted in meaning as the file extension standards created by that group as well. MPG is very popular in the video world. And there are a number of MPG formats that you should consider – all with different purposes. MPG video pioneered digital distribution of video on the Internet and disc. Thus, it works with everything. With MPEG-1 you get poor video quality, in some situations, no better than VHS. The next generation of MPEG technology is MPEG-2, which is used by most TV stations. MPEG-2 technology is also the compression format behind DVD, as well as the ATSC standard for broadcast HDTV. So, don't think MPEG-2 is going away anytime soon. However, it's best to focus on the most...