
mp4, mov, mkv, avi, mpeg … Formats, containers and codecs how to choose? Is there a video format that is compatible with all browsers and on all media? And if it exists, what is it? The answer is in this article.

All these questions we asked ourselves at the beginning of our activity in Kalyzée. First, the issue of the best format seemed rather complicated to us as it had to take into account distribution mode (transmission, pseudo-transmission), browser compatibility (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera, Internet Explorer) with its various versions and navigation support (desktop) , tablet and mobile computers).

The competition between Apple, Google, Microsoft and Adobe, all the major players in the choice of video formats, does not help at all; everyone is trying to pull the rug to himself. We all remember Steve Jobs’ resounding choice, in April 2010, to stop using flash (Adobe) on iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. A brave (not to say bloated) decision with a Flash present on 99% of desktops!
WHAT IS DIGITAL VIDEO?
A digital video is a file that contains images, audio and text (metadata) placed in a container. In this container, images, audio and text are compressed because the transmission network infrastructure cannot support the load of built-in audio-visual transmissions. We can say that digital video files are audiovisual zip files. Compression and decompression of these files are done using codecs.
The container is a file format that contains audio and video streams, codec information and metadata.
A codec (acronym coding-decode) is an algorithm for compressing / decompressing a digital audio-visual signal.
CONTAINER AND VIDEO FORMAT
The format of a video file is specified with the name of its container (MP4, MOV, AVI, FLV, MKV, ASF, etc.). There are about twenty containers, the most important of which are listed below. These containers have been developed over time by various companies and communities to adapt to technological developments. A container can enclose several audio and video tracks. Metadata can be: title, abstract, keywords, credits, chapters, subtitles, etc.





