Video Uploading and Bandwidth Requirements
Streaming video quality is dependent in part upon the video encoding process and the amount of bandwidth required for it to be viewed properly. It's usually standard practice to produce or encode streaming video for delivery over the Internet at a minimum of standard 56K modem speed since many users are still connected at these speeds. Encoding a video so that it will stream at this speed, a high degree of compression is applied to both the video and audio tracks. This process eliminates portions of the audio and video data, which is why most videos you see don't appear or sound as clear as you'd like.

It is advisable, however, to also prepare alternate video clips which are of higher video and audio quality, and which are specifically meant for transmission to visitors who are connecting to your web site at higher speeds. When encoding video is done for higher speed connections, less compression is used and a smaller amount of audio and video data is lost. As a result, these alternate video files are larger in size and require the faster connection speed to be seen as streaming video.

A user who is connected to the Internet using a high speed cable modem or DSL connection, for example, can watch any streaming video clip which has been encoded for transmission at their connection speed or lower. However, a user who is connected to the Internet using a 56k modem who attempts to view a streaming video clip which has been encoded for transmission to cable modem users, for example, will get very choppy video which plays for a second or two and then pauses for several seconds until more video data is transferred to their PC.