Blog
How video actually works
Explainers for the questions underneath the tools. Written to be understood once rather than looked up repeatedly, and honest about the places where the answer genuinely depends.
12 articles across rights, fundamentals, codecs
Rights
Why Some Websites Do Not Allow Video Downloads
The licensing, business and technical reasons behind a missing download button, and what the absence of one actually means.
2 min read
Rights
Creative Commons Video: What the Licences Actually Allow
The six licences, what each condition means in practice, and how to attribute properly so the permission holds.
2 min read
Rights
Public Domain and Copyrighted Content: Telling Them Apart
What public domain actually means, how works get there, and why free to watch is not the same thing at all.
2 min read
Rights
Copyright Basics for Online Video Creators
A plain overview of who owns what, what permission actually means, and the assumptions that get creators into trouble.
3 min read
Fundamentals
Understanding Video Aspect Ratios
Why video is the shape it is, what changed when phones arrived, and how to handle footage that has to fit a frame it was not shot for.
2 min read
Codecs
What Is H.265 (HEVC), and Should You Use It?
Roughly half the file size for the same picture, with real costs attached. When H.265 is the right choice and when it will simply fail to play.
2 min read
Codecs
What Is H.264, and Why Is It Still Everywhere?
The codec that made online video practical, how it works in outline, and why newer and better codecs have not displaced it.
2 min read
Fundamentals
Understanding Video Frame Rates
Why 24, 25, 30 and 60 all exist, where the odd numbers like 29.97 came from, and what changing the rate does to your footage.
3 min read
Fundamentals
How Video File Size Is Calculated
One multiplication decides how big a video is. Here it is, along with the unit confusion that makes files come out different from what people expect.
2 min read
Fundamentals
720p vs 1080p vs 4K: What Actually Changes
A comparison of the three resolutions that matter, in pixels, in file size, and in whether anyone can see the difference.
2 min read
Fundamentals
What Does 1080p Actually Mean?
The number, the letter, and why a 1080p file can still look poor. A short explanation of a term everyone uses and few pick apart.
2 min read
Fundamentals
What Is Video Bitrate, and Why Does It Decide How Good a Video Looks?
Bitrate is the budget an encoder has to describe a picture. Here is what it means, why the same number can be generous or hopeless, and how to judge it.
3 min read