Output Formats

Xora supports 9 output formats across video, audio, and image types. You specify the format in your job’s output.format field.

Supported formats

Format	Type	MIME Type	Description
mp4	Video	video/mp4	H.264 video — universal playback, great for web
webm	Video	video/webm	VP8/VP9 video — optimized for web browsers
mov	Video	video/quicktime	QuickTime container — common in Apple/pro workflows
gif	Image	image/gif	Animated GIF — for previews and social media
mp3	Audio	audio/mpeg	MPEG audio — most compatible audio format
aac	Audio	audio/aac	Advanced Audio Coding — better quality than MP3 at same bitrate
wav	Audio	audio/wav	Uncompressed audio — lossless, large files
jpg	Image	image/jpeg	JPEG image — for thumbnails and frame captures
png	Image	image/png	PNG image — lossless, supports transparency

Which recipes support which formats

Recipe	Video formats	Audio formats	Image formats
webReady	mp4	—	—
proxy	mp4	—	—
compress	mp4, webm, mov	—	—
transcode	mp4, webm, mov	mp3, aac, wav	—
resize	mp4, webm, mov	—	—
trim	mp4, webm, mov	mp3, aac, wav	—
extractAudio	—	mp3, aac, wav (fallback only)	—
thumbnail	—	—	jpg, png
concat	mp4, webm, mov	mp3, aac, wav	—

Note

Custom FFmpeg jobs can produce any of the 9 formats. The table above applies to recipe mode only.

Choosing a format

Video

• mp4 — safest default. Plays everywhere (browsers, phones, desktop). Uses H.264 codec.
• webm — smaller file sizes for the same quality. Best for web-only use. Not universally supported on older devices.
• mov — use when your downstream workflow requires QuickTime (e.g., Final Cut Pro, After Effects).

Audio

• mp3 — most compatible. Use for podcasts, music, or any general-purpose audio.
• aac — higher quality than MP3 at the same bitrate. Default audio codec in MP4 containers.
• wav — uncompressed, lossless audio. Use when quality matters more than file size (e.g., mastering, sound design).

extractAudio (special case)

For the extractAudio recipe, output.format is only the transcode fallback when the source audio cannot be stream-copied. Xora probes the input and may deliver a different extension without re-encoding:

Resolved output	When
.mp3, .aac, .wav, .opus, .flac, .ogg	Source codec supports stream copy
output.format (mp3, aac, or wav)	Source codec not copyable (e.g. AC-3, DTS)

The completed file extension comes from the engine plan, not necessarily from output.format.

Image

• jpg — smaller files, great for thumbnails and previews. Lossy compression.
• png — lossless, supports transparency. Larger files but pixel-perfect quality.

Setting the format

The format is always specified in the output object:

{
  "mode": "recipe",
  "input": { "url": "https://example.com/video.mp4" },
  "output": { "format": "mp4" },
  "recipe": { "name": "compress", "crf": 28 }
}

For FFmpeg multi-file jobs, the format is determined by the output filename extension:

{
  "mode": "ffmpeg",
  "input_files": { "in_1": "https://example.com/video.mp4" },
  "output_files": { "out_1": "result.webm" },
  "ffmpeg": { "args": ["-i", "{{in_1}}", "-c:v", "libvpx-vp9", "{{out_1}}"] }
}