Lowest Common Denominator video format that will play across Windows versions?

[WorkingHour]

Hello everyone,



I searched the forums for some advice and didn't see too much that was specific to my needs, so I'm starting a new thread.

Does anyone know of a format/codec combination that works across most iterations of Office and Windows? I'm not worried about how it's deployed (linking pre-2010 vs embedding) as much as I'd like to know what to deploy.

Using videos in PowerPoint is a constant struggle with broken links (pre-Office 2010) and compatibility/missing codec issues. I've had problems with various formats, including the "go-to" WMV and AVI format, especially when one format works on Windows 7 but not on XP and vice versa.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance for your advice,

WorkingHour