Not All Email Clients Are Created Equal
The quality of video playback inside an email can vary significantly depending on several factors. The most important of these is the email client being used.
Different email clients support different video and image technologies. For example:
Gmail supports animated GIFs with a limited color palette of 256 colors.
Apple Mail supports HEVC, which allows for millions of colors and higher visual quality than standard MP4 video.
Because of these limitations, the same video can look very different depending on where it is opened.
How Playable Optimizes Video in Email
Playable’s patented platform automatically optimizes video and live streams in real time, at the moment the email is opened.
For each viewer, Playable dynamically adjusts:
Video format
Frame rate
Resolution
These adjustments are based on the viewer’s:
Device
Email client
Network connection
This ensures fast loading times and the best possible viewing experience, regardless of how or where the email is opened.
Please note: To obtain the best quality for your video email campaigns, you should always use a high-quality source video. We recommend at least a 1200-wide MP4 video.
Below is our compatibility list of email clients and the video formats supported:
Apple Mail: MP4, H.264, HEVC
Apple iPhone Mail (iOS12+): MP4, H.264, HEVC
Apple iPhone Mail (iOS11 & earlier): PNG
Apple iPad Mail: MP4, H.264, HEVC
Google Android: WEBP
Gmail: GIF
Outlook for Mac: MP4, H.264
Outlook.com: GIF
Outlook.com: WEBP
Outlook 2007-2016 for Windows: Static Image (<2% of consumer campaigns)
Samsung Mail: WEBP
Yahoo! Mail: GIF
Yahoo! Mail (Chrome): WEBP
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