MP4, MOV, AVI — What's the Actual Difference
Most people have run into this confusion at least once. You download a video, it comes out as something unexpected, and now your phone either won't play it or plays it badly. The annoying part is that these files are often the exact same video — just packaged differently. Format is the container, not the content.
MP4 basically won. It works on everything made in the last fifteen years. Your phone plays it. Your TV plays it. Your laptop plays it. Windows Media Player plays it. VLC plays it. When you share an MP4, you can be almost certain the person receiving it can open it without installing anything or doing anything special. If you have any choice at all when downloading a video, pick MP4 and don't think about it further.
MOV is Apple's format — a relic from the QuickTime era when Apple and Windows genuinely didn't talk to each other much. On a Mac or iPhone it opens fine. On Windows or Android it sometimes needs a codec or a different app. It's not a disaster to receive a MOV file, just inconvenient if you're not on Apple hardware. The fix is simple: convert to MP4 using HandBrake, which is free.
AVI is old. Microsoft's video format from the 1990s, genuinely solid for its time. The problem now is file size — AVI files are much larger than modern formats for the same quality, and mobile support is inconsistent. If you get one, VLC will open it on anything. If you want to share it with someone, convert it first. Nobody wants a 2GB AVI when a 200MB MP4 would look identical.
MKV, WebM, FLV — these come up occasionally. MKV is popular for high-quality movie downloads because it holds multiple audio tracks and subtitles in one container. WebM shows up on certain websites. FLV is essentially dead. The practical answer: always aim for MP4. When MyVideoCity downloads a video from TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, or X, the result is almost always an MP4 — because that's what those platforms store. You get a file that opens on anything, no conversion needed.
720p vs 1080p vs 4K — Which One Should You Actually Pick
People massively overthink this. The short answer: 1080p for almost everything. But the reason why is worth understanding, because it'll save you from downloading unnecessarily huge files forever.
Resolution is just pixel count. 720p is 1,280 × 720. 1080p is 1,920 × 1,080. 4K is 3,840 × 2,160. More pixels means more detail, but also bigger files. A one-minute clip at 720p might be 30MB. Same clip at 1080p could be 80MB. At 4K, 300MB or more depending on compression. That's ten times the file size for something you might never notice on your screen.
Watching on your phone? 1080p is more than enough. Phone screens don't have the pixel density to show you the difference between 1080p and 4K in most situations. You'd be downloading a dramatically larger file to get something that looks identical. The exception is a newer flagship phone with a very high-res display — in that case 4K might matter for the right content. But for most people, most of the time, it doesn't.
Watching on a large TV or monitor? 4K starts to matter. Sitting a couple of metres from a 55-inch screen, the difference between 1080p and 4K is visible, particularly in footage with lots of detail. That said — social media videos rarely exist in true 4K anyway. Most TikTok and Instagram content maxes out at 1080p regardless of what quality labels are shown, because the platforms compress it on upload.
720p is genuinely fine for WhatsApp sharing, quick references, commute watching. Sending a 30MB file beats sending an 80MB one every time. And here's something that trips people up: the quality options you see when downloading through MyVideoCity reflect what the platform actually stored — not what the creator originally filmed. If someone shot in 4K but TikTok compressed it to 1080p on upload, the highest option you'll see is 1080p. The 4K never made it to TikTok's servers. This is why social media video always looks slightly less sharp than footage taken directly to your camera roll.
Why Sending Videos to People Is So Frustrating — and What Actually Works
You have a great video. You send it to someone. It arrives looking like it was filmed through a car window in 2009. Nothing is broken. This is just how messaging apps work. They compress everything.
WhatsApp is the worst offender. Videos typically get compressed to around 480p or lower, sometimes much worse depending on file size and settings. There's an "HD" toggle now, but even that doesn't preserve original quality — it just compresses slightly less aggressively. If the quality of what arrives matters to you, WhatsApp is genuinely the wrong tool for the job.
Telegram is better, with one specific trick: send the video as a "File" not as a video message. When you send as File, Telegram doesn't touch it at all. The recipient gets the exact file you sent. It might not play inline as smoothly, but the quality is perfect. The difference between Telegram's two sending modes is significant — most people never notice it.
Instagram Direct compresses heavily. If you're sharing something where quality matters, don't use it. Use something else.
For anything where quality genuinely matters — Google Drive, iCloud Drive, or Dropbox. Upload the file, share the link, the other person downloads it in full quality. Slower, yes. But the original file arrives intact. For anything professional, this is the only sensible approach.
AirDrop, if both people are on Apple devices, is perfect. Direct wireless transfer, no compression, fast, free. The only catch is proximity — both people need to be nearby. Android users have Quick Share (previously Nearby Share) which does the same thing. Slightly less seamless to set up, but works identically once you know where to find it.
So — Put It All Together
Format, quality, sharing method. These three choices determine whether the video you want to keep or send actually holds up. Download from MyVideoCity and you get an MP4 at the best quality the platform stored — that's your starting point. From there, what you do with it determines whether the quality survives.
Send it on WhatsApp: compressed. Share via Google Drive: intact. Pick 4K when 1080p would have been fine: enormous file for no visible improvement. Get a MOV you need to share with someone on Android: convert it first. None of this is complicated once you know what each choice actually does. The platforms compress for their own reasons, not for yours. Working around that just means knowing which tools respect the original file and which ones don't.
For platform-specific download guides, see our articles on downloading TikTok videos, saving Instagram Reels, downloading Facebook videos, getting videos from X, and downloading Vimeo content.