Apple QuickTime VR - Manual (Page 95)

Animation
Animation compression is best for animation, computer-generated video, and sequences of
computer-screen images. It decompresses files faster than the Graphics compression method.
Cinepak
Cinepak takes significantly longer to compress an image than to decompress it. You use
Cinepak when you need a high compression ratio and fast playback speed. The ideal source
material is video, but it should be the cleanest, uncompressed, captured video source you
can get. Otherwise your results will be poor. Cinepak compression is a good choice for
images read from a CD.
Graphics
Graphics compression is a good alternative to Animation compression when you need a high
amount of compression and aren’t as concerned about the decompression speed. It is best
for computer-generated animation, and some video. It works well if your QTVR media is
played from a CD or over the Internet. It is a better alternative for the Internet than animated
GIFs. Graphics is the best to use for images dithered down to 8 bits.
Photo JPEG
Regardless of the type of QTVR media, Photo JPEG results in the highest-quality image for
any amount of compression. If you’re playing your QTVR media over the Internet, use Photo
JPEG set to 25–40 percent quality. This produces the smallest files for a given quality level
while maintaining good playback speed.
Photo JPEG takes longer to decompress than most other methods. For panoramas, this may
cause a visual “stutter” as the user pans. For objects, the user may see sluggish movement. If
you use Photo JPEG and see these problems, you may want to try Video compression at
50–75 percent quality or Cinepak compression at 75–100 percent quality.
Video
Video compression plays back fast while maintaining decent picture quality. It is a good
codec to use when you are checking edits you’ve done on QTVR media.
Compression 95