Recently a client asked me about the difference between QuickTime and Flash players for video on the Web and which one was better to use for their website. My response was that it's worth looking at what large video sites like YouTube are doing.

The reason sites like YouTube and Dailymotion use Flash is very simple. With the large penetration that Flash has, there is a high probability (99%) that the viewer already has the plug-in installed on their computer. This means that the user will not have to navigate away from your website to download the player.

Flash is a non-biased player, in other words it was developed to be used across all platforms, unlike QuickTime which was created mainly for Apple Macs. It's because of this that many PC users/fanboys choose not to download the player (Ed's Note: can you guess which system Peter is partial to? :)).

After listening to me rattle off the statistics, my client asked me another very good question - which player presents better quality video? 

The quality difference between the two players is minimal. This is even more true now that Flash has enabled H.264 video compression. H.264 provides great video quality and does so across the bandwidth spectrum from 3G (mobile phones) to HD while using up about half the bandwidth of MPEG-2. This is why H.264 is very popular and is used to broadcast HD television by BBC HD, SKY HD and many other companies.

I believe that the best player for websites is Flash. This is not because it has better quality video or compression settings, but rather because Flash has higher market penetration. You could have a great viral video campaign or even an advert for your product, but what is the point if only 64% of people will be able to watch it without having to download additional software? It's worth considering that this could affect the first impression someone has of your product or company.

For those of you who are still debating the pros and cons of using Flash Movie or QuickTime for your website, I have compiled the following comparison: