This question gets a lot of confident, wrong answers, most of them treating MP4 and MOV as different qualities of video. They are not. They are boxes.

Container and codec are different things

A codec is how the pictures are compressed. H.264 and HEVC are codecs. This is what determines quality and file size.

A container is the file wrapper that holds the compressed video, the audio, the timing and the metadata. MP4 and MOV are containers.

One recording reframed three ways: vertical, square and widescreen.

The same H.264 video, at the same bitrate, put in an MP4 and in a MOV, is the same video twice. Frame for frame, byte for byte in the parts that matter. Anyone who tells you MOV is higher quality has seen a MOV that happened to hold a bigger codec, and drawn the wrong conclusion from it.

This is why "which format" is usually the wrong question and "which codec, at what bitrate" is the right one. Compressing a video is about the second question, and it is the one that changes what people see.

MDN's reference on web video codecs is the clearest summary of what each format buys you in quality per megabyte.

AVFoundation is the layer underneath - Apple's media framework, and what a Mac editor uses to assemble a timeline and encode the finished file.

The default answer

Export MP4. Every platform accepts it, every phone plays it, every browser plays it inline, and nothing in the chain has to think about it. That is the whole argument and it is enough for most videos.

MP4 with H.264 is the most broadly compatible pair of choices available, and for a video going to TikTok, Reels, Shorts, YouTube, LinkedIn or a website, it is what you want. The platform is going to re-encode it anyway - every upload is transcoded on arrival - so your job is to hand over a clean, high-bitrate file in a format nothing will stumble over.

When MOV is the right call

Two real cases.

A transparent background. Alpha - genuine per-pixel transparency - needs a codec that carries an alpha channel, and those live in MOV. If you are exporting a cutout to lay over something else in another tool, this is the case, and the container follows from the codec rather than the other way round.

A master for another editor. If the file is going into Final Cut, Premiere or Resolve for more work, a ProRes master in a MOV is kinder to the next stage than a delivery-grade H.264. It is much larger, and that is the point: it is not for delivering, it is for editing again without stacking a second generation of compression on the first.

If neither of those is you, MOV is a larger file that does the same job.

The two exports that genuinely differ

GIF is not a smaller video. It is a different medium: no audio, a limited palette, and a file that can easily be larger than the MP4 of the same clip. It exists because some places - a README, a docs page, an old chat client - will show a GIF inline and will not show a video. Converting a screen recording to a GIF is worth reading before you assume it is the small option.

M4A is the audio alone. Useful for pulling a podcast track out of a video recording, and useless for anything you want people to watch.

Resolution matters more than either

If you are choosing between formats to improve how your video looks, you are optimising the wrong thing. What actually changes the result:

  • Resolution. 1080p is free in Zella; 4K needs Pro, and 8K is available on the Mac. Uploading a higher resolution than the viewer will see still helps, because platforms allocate more bitrate to larger uploads.
  • Bitrate. The number that decides how much detail survives. A 1080p file at a low bitrate looks worse than a 720p file at a high one.
  • Frame rate. Match what you shot. Converting 30 to 60 invents nothing and doubles the file.

Exporting 4K on a Mac covers what actually improves a screen recording's legibility, which is usually resolution rather than anything to do with the container.

Frequently asked questions

Is MOV better quality than MP4? No. Both are containers. The same video in either is the same video - quality comes from the codec and bitrate inside, not from the wrapper.

Which should I upload to TikTok, Reels or YouTube? MP4. Every platform expects it, and every platform re-encodes on upload anyway, so hand over a clean high-bitrate MP4 and let them do their pass.

When do I actually need MOV? Two cases: a transparent background, which needs an alpha-carrying codec, and a ProRes master headed into another editor for more work.

Is a GIF smaller than a video? Usually not. A GIF of the same clip is frequently larger, has no audio, and shows fewer colours. Use one because a place will not embed video, not to save space.

Does the format affect how long the export takes? The codec does. ProRes writes very large files quickly; H.264 and HEVC spend more time compressing and produce far smaller ones.

What resolution should I export? 1080p for most feeds, and it is free. Go to 4K when the source is 4K or the video is full of small text, which is where the extra pixels actually show.