Is filetype a dealbreaker? Please vote.

[DARPA]

Originally Posted by Glen Quagmire

To me it's unthinkable to click download if I don't know what type of file I'm downloading.

Not to sound obtuse but what file hosting/sharing website/tool does not include a file name with extension somewhere on the page before you download it? I don't see how it's possible not to know what the file extension is before you download it regardless of whether the post includes that information or not. And, trying not to sound too churlish, but if you just click on download links on hosting sites without examining the page to see what you're getting, you will have earned every bit of grief that might come your way.

The .hex argument is kind of valid but only to a point. A file extension does not guarantee file type. I can have a hex file and change the extension to AVI and upload it. The downloader will never know its a hex file and not an AVI. And if you archive the hex so that the extension is hidden inside the archive, you will only see you're downloading an archive, not a hex.

My point is having someone write what the file type is in the post is no guarantee that it actually is that.

[DARPA]

Originally Posted by hos

imho the fileinfo rule is a bit too restrictive here and only pleasures the video-editing nerds

Guilty as charged but you miss an important caveat. There is one piece of file info that is critical but isn't a requirement and therefore gets left out of most people's fileinfo dumps on VEF: codec type.

Codec type is the single biggest issue confounding VEF members in terms of frustration and playability. Most posters don't include the info. They either don't know what the codec being used was or don't know how to access that information or even that they might need to. They think .mp4 is .mp4 is .mp4.

That's just not the case. It's .mp4 plus whatever codec was used.

This was a much bigger problem 20 years ago than it is now but it's still a problem. Every time a new improved codec comes out that is clearly better than what came before, turmoil ensues.

Take h.265. I switched to it a couple years ago when I upgraded to Premiere Pro 2019 because I was getting better compression with no noticeable degradation at 480i (but even at HD resolutions). But the output was .mp4 so people without h.265 support would download the file (where I clearly stated it was an .mp4 file in the original post) and get audio but no picture. And then they would complain the file was no good.

To be certain this constituency of the h.265 deprived constituted a tiny minority at VEF but it wasn't zero. And it was prevalent enough that I was getting posts removed by mods who would play the file and not see a picture (after one particular back and forth with a mod about this, they said, "Great. Now I have to have a fourth player just to view these files")

It happened enough times that I started posting codec information in my fileinfo section but even that was not enough so I added an addendum at the bottom stating that if viewers get no picture but audio that they need to get h.265 support. And I haven't really been hassled since then...

Eventually this will no longer be an issue as developers catch up and get h.265 support natively into the platforms and default players. But eventually h.265 will be displaced just as it is in the process of displacing h.264. And the cycle will repeat.

That's why codec information is probably the one thing that is most likely forgotten about but most likely needed.

[Glen Quagmire]

Originally Posted by DARPA

Not to sound obtuse but what file hosting/sharing website/tool does not include a file name with extension somewhere on the page before you download it? I don't see how it's possible not to know what the file extension is before you download it regardless of whether the post includes that information or not. And, trying not to sound too churlish, but if you just click on download links on hosting sites without examining the page to see what you're getting, you will have earned every bit of grief that might come your way.

The .hex argument is kind of valid but only to a point. A file extension does not guarantee file type. I can have a hex file and change the extension to AVI and upload it. The downloader will never know its a hex file and not an AVI. And if you archive the hex so that the extension is hidden inside the archive, you will only see you're downloading an archive, not a hex.

My point is having someone write what the file type is in the post is no guarantee that it actually is that.

That question is not relevant for this thread.
I have good control of what I'm downloading.
And you can't expect everyone to have your level of knowledge, many here is old people who have very limited knowledge about this and have therefore most likely a bad mediaplayer on their computer.
And if the filetype in the post they doesn't have to look at the host.
They can just move on and look for a post with the right filetype.