There are many web enabled devices (electronics which connect to the Internet) that produce video and have made quite an impact on our everyday lives. All this web video comes from somewhere, but most camcorders typically don't record video fit for immediate viewing on the web. Herein lies the challenge: how to get our video playing on the web, and to make sure it looks its best! Some tweaking to the video is needed; our video must be compressed for the web.

Video compression is needed to change our large video files into smaller video files so that they can be shared more easily and viewed online. Luckily for us, there's a whole world of video compression software to get our video ready for the web. Basic video editing software like Windows Live Movie Maker, usually includes an AVI compressor option for the web. Professional video editing software like Adobe Premiere Pro CS5, gives us more advanced, detailed compression options. There are even stand-alone compression software tools like Sorenson's Squeeze, Apple's Compressor 4 and MPEG Streamclip that handle video compression without the need for any other software. So whether you want your video looking its best on YouTube, or playing loud and proud on an iPad, video compression software makes it happen.

What is the Best Compression Format for you?

It's hard to write a video compression comparison because everyone's needs will differ. However, whether it's the best video compression software you're looking for or the best video format for YouTube, we can get started compressing right away. Most desktop and laptop computers actually ship with video compression software built-in. On the Mac side, this means Apple iMovie which comes standard on every new computer (or as a $15 download from the App Store). On the PC side, it's Movie Maker, which you have to download, but it's free. Both of these offer preset options that produce good looking web video. iMovie is technically a video editing application, so it does much more than compress video for the web. The software includes many basic compression features under its share menu, which gives you options to compress and upload to several online social networks like YouTube, Vimeo and Facebook. Since iMovie accepts video from most types of camcorders and point-and-shoot cameras, we think it's a no-brainer for your first web video.

On the PC side, you can download Movie Maker free on most computers. Like iMovie, Movie Maker is a basic video editor which includes a handful of compression features for the web. Movie Maker accepts video from a variety of camcorders and users can make online video compression for many outlets including email, YouTube, Facebook and to Windows Live SkyDrive (Microsoft's online storage service).

A third basic tool to use for compression is QuickTime player. This small application for both the PC and Mac offers video compression features in a simple package. Compression options for the web include presets for YouTube, Vimeo, Flickr and Facebook. Custom compression options are available, too. Both Movie Maker and iMovie use presets to compress for the web. If we want more control (and even better looking video), we'll want to look past these presets, to some professional tools and video compression techniques.

The Big Time: Specialized Compression Software

If we want to make the very best web video, and attract the largest viewing audience, we'll have to use some more advanced tools. These tools allow us to compress HD video for more than just social networks - think web video streaming from your website or onto a tablet computer.

Custom settings like bit rate, resolution, format and adaptive streaming are features to look for. These settings allow for fine control of video quality, but it takes time to master. With web video now playing in glorious 1080p HD resolution, the need for exceptional video compression is greater than ever. HD video has a lot more pixels to compress than standard video. So the demands on our video compression software are higher. You may also want to compress many video clips all at once. And what about all the web enabled devices? They each require video with slightly different compression. It's easy getting so many pixels to look good online. We just need the right tools.