What formats should I transcode my videos into?
 

I have a question on Transcoding videos for my website.

Right now I have 7 options when transcoding. I have a Membership/VOD/Clips hybrid platform. Due to a limited budget for servers, I want to keep space down when adding new content. So my question is, what can I get away with without discouraging customers?

Here are my options:
Adaptive HLS
HLS 1080
HLS 720
HLS 480
MP4 1080
MP4 720
MP4 480

From my understanding, I want to format each video at least in Adaptive HLS to help with buffering and lag for customers with wifi/hotspot etc... and of course MP4 1080. But after that, I am not sure what is necessary and what is just extra for a tiny percent of customers? On Clips4Sale, over 85% of my clip sales are in 1080 MP4, so I am not really sure how many will actually use 720 or 480?
If you stream my vid on a mobile device at 1080, is it not going to work?

So to reiterate, what formats should I transcode my videos into to balance the needs of my customers with my space and costs of the server?
Thank you for any input!

Go with Adaptive HLS to give your streaming clients what they need as they are pulling the stream down, and then have a MP4 1080 for those that are downloading it :) No need for anything smaller since they are downloading it anyway.

:2 cents: