Different Compression Formats

I looked at the presets on Adobe After Effects to see which of the different available formats I can use for my project. Below is a list of some of the most important options.

HDTV 1080 25
This format stands for High Definition TV, and the 1080 stands for the number of horizontal lines of vertical resolution. It normally refers to the aspect size ratio 16:9 which is widescreen format. The 25 in this case refers to how many frames per second. Its is widely used in Britain when uploading footage onto monitors or projections, whereas 24p is used widely in film. 29.97 (or 30) fps are used normally in the United States.

WEB VIDEO 320x240
This is a good size for standard quality web videos. It has an aspect ratio of 4:3 and the file size will be smaller than a video of higher resolution. The video size for extremely high quality videos is 1280x960 and is a large file size.

NTSC DV
This stands for the National Television System Committee. It is a format used in North and South America, Japan, South Korea etc. It is an analog television system yet many countries are now switching to digital standards. The desired result for NTSC DV is an aspect ratio of 4:3 whereas DV widescreen will be 16:9.

PAL
Stands for Phase Alternating Line and is a colour encoding analogue television system. 25 frames are transmitted each second, and is commonly used here in the UK. Each frame is made up of 625 individual  scan lines. For widescreen movies, 16x9 enhanced PAL DVDs provide the highest resolution image.


http://www.michaeldvd.com.au/articles/palvsntsc/palvsntsc.asp
http://www.ihffilm.com/videostandard.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTSC
http://www.longtailvideo.com/support/jw-player/26/web-video-compression