Format comparison
WebM vs MOV
How do WebM and MOVcompare? Here's everything you need to know to choose the right format — and how to convert between them.
.webm
Full guide →Web Media
WebM is Google's open-source video format designed specifically for the web. It offers excellent compression and quality, especially with the VP9 and AV1 codecs, and is royalty-free.
.mov
Full guide →QuickTime Movie
MOV is Apple's video format, native to macOS and iOS. iPhones record video in MOV format by default. It supports high quality and professional features but works best within the Apple ecosystem.
| Specification | WebM | MOV |
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Web Media | QuickTime Movie |
| Extension | .webm | .mov |
| MIME type | video/webm | video/quicktime |
| Category | Video | Video |
| Developer | Apple | |
| Year introduced | 2010 | 1991 |
WebM advantages
- Royalty-free and open source
- Excellent web browser support
- Great compression with VP9/AV1
- Designed for HTML5 video
WebM limitations
- Limited support outside web browsers
- Fewer editing tools available
- Hardware decoding less common
- Less universal than MP4
MOV advantages
- High quality video support
- Native Apple ecosystem format
- Professional-grade features
- Supports ProRes codec
MOV limitations
- Large file sizes
- Less compatible outside Apple
- Requires QuickTime on Windows
- Not ideal for web streaming
Which should you use?
WebM and MOV target different use cases. WebM is ideal for html5 web video, while MOV works best for iphone and ipad video recording.
Best uses for WebM
HTML5 web video
YouTube (internal format)
Web applications
Open-source projects
Best uses for MOV
iPhone and iPad video recording
Final Cut Pro editing
Professional video production
Apple-based workflows
Convert between WebM and MOV
Need to switch formats? Convert for free with SquishConvert.