Beginner's question, best movie file type to download for good quality?

denz455 said:

.... Ive heard mp4 files are the ones to find when downloading video clips from search engines (Limewire). ...

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Judging video quality by the filetype makes as much sense as judging an automobile by its color. There are high-quality video files available in just about every video format. There are also poor-quality video files available in each format. If you are acquiring your files over Limewire, then video quality is not the No. 1 consideration. The top consideration for downloadable video is usually filesize. A format like .mp4 will be higher quality than a .wmv of the same filesize. However, the poster is more likely to take advantage of the fact that a .mp4 file will be substantially smaller than a .wmv of the same quality.

Know your source. Some download sites specialize in quality video. Their files will be high quality irrespective of the format.

That's a hard question to answer. It's more about the bitrate than the format itself. I guess look for higher filesizes (as an indication of higher bitrate)? MP4 can be pretty good.