Today’s Question: When I export videos from Lightroom Classic, such as to include in a photo slideshow, I have to choose an option for Video Format. Which option should I use?
Tim’s Quick Answer: If you haven’t edited the video in Lightroom Classic, and you know the current video format is supported by the software you’ll be using, I would choose “Original, unedited file”. If you have edited the video or are concerned about compatibility, I would choose “H.264”.
More Detail: In general, if there isn’t a particular need to render a video to a new format, I suggest simply keeping the video in the format it was captured in. This would involve choosing the “Original, unedited file” option from the Video Format popup in the Video section of the Export dialog.
If you have edited the video in Lightroom Classic, you need to render to a new format to include your edits in the exported video. In that case you can choose between DPX and H.264. Both are perfectly fine, but H.264 is more widely supported so I consider it a “safer” option.
Note that rendering a new video will take more time than simply copying the source video file. That won’t be a significant issue for relatively short videos and modest resolutions, but could be quite time-consuming for high-resolution videos that are relatively long.
Note, by the way, that depending on which software you’re using for your photo slideshow, you may be able to apply at least basic edits and trims to the video with that software. If so, there’s no need to edit in Lightroom Classic if you haven’t already.
