VIDEO FORMATS: A BRIEF REVIEW OF THE MOST KNOWN


Free Download Mp4Gain
picture

When facing the world of video, you have to take into account a series of concepts. Thus, we must be clear about the differences between the container format, the video codec, the video specification and the audio codec:

Video formats

 video formats

Container format

This type of file contains several elements and, at least, video and audio.

The video codec

codec

It is often confused with the video format, but it really is not the same. It is not a mandatory element, since if no codec is specified, the video will be uncompressed, that is, in RAW format. Therefore, a codec is generally chosen to compress the video. And depending on which codec we choose, a better or worse quality will be achieved and, in turn, a larger or smaller size.

The video specification

Each video codec is usually based on a specific video specification (H262, H263, H264, H265), which is nothing more than a set of standards that define how they should behave.

The audio codec

As with the video, we can have several audio channels included in the file. In addition, they are usually also compressed with a certain codec, in order to save space: MP3, WMA, etc.

Video formats

Types of container formats

AVI format

It is probably one of the best known container formats. Corresponds to the English acronym of Audio video interleave. It was developed by Microsoft in 1992 and is one of the most popular formats, perhaps due to its wide use on Windows platforms. Being one of the most basic, it only allows audio and video channels.

Among the codecs that we can find are the DivX codec and the XViD.

MKV format (Matroska)

It is an open source container format, created in 2002.

Among the most common codecs that we can find are H264.

WebM format

It is a project that is based in Matroska. Initially, it was developed by the company On2 Technologies, but in 2010 it became part of Google, which released the source code, guiding it to use with HTML5 as a free standard.

As for the codec used by WebM we find the VP8, which has evolved to the current VP9, ​​giving great performance.

MPG format

Rather than being a format, it is a specification, standardized by the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG). MPG files are used to create movies that are distributed on the Internet and, depending on their compression, we find the versions MPG-1 or MPG-2.

MP4 format

The MPEG-3 specification was discontinued and never developed, the MPEG-4 standard later being defined.

The commonly used codecs are x264.

HEVC format

The MPEG-H / HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding) specification is considered H.265, and doubles the performance of its predecessor, supporting resolutions that could reach 8K (UHDTV).


Free Download Mp4Gain
picture


Mp4Gain Main Window
picture


Mp4Gain Features
picture


Free Download Mp4Gain
picture

WHAT IS THE BEST WEB VIDEO FORMAT?

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.

video container

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).

video containers

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.

What is the difference between MP4, AVI and MPEG?

MP4, AVI and MPEG are three different digital video formats. All of them widely used in a medium or other format, but are not compatible with each other. MPEG (of which MP4 is actually a version) is the most widely used, but AVI is gaining ground.

Types

AVI or Audio Video Interleave, is a format developed by Microsoft. MPEG is the common standard format term created by Moving Picture Experts Group.

Differences

AVI can be played in most Windows-based applications, such as Windows Media Player. MPEG works primarily with QuickTime, Apple-based applications and video discs, while MP4 is used primarily with many personal media players such as iPod and PSP.

ID
MP4 is actually MPEG-4, a subset of the MPEG standard. What people usually refer to as MPEG is MPEG-1 or MPEG-2. In contrast, MPEG-3 is not MP3, which is included in MPEG-1.

Importance
MPEG-1 is used with video compact discs (VCD), while higher quality MPEG-2 is used for DVDs.

Benefits
The biggest difference of MP4 from the other MPEG formats is its ability to save subtitles, still images and other data with digital audio and video.

Warning
Some personal devices can be advertised as “MP4”, using the term colloquial, but they actually play AMV files.

Avi or mp4 ?? which is better and why?

which of the two video formats is better ???

if the 2 are 1200×720 which gives me better quality ????

The avi with the codex divx is better.
Obviously the best quality format is .avi but it is heavier than the .mp4 format because this is a compression format mostly used for portable devices.
what happens is that the mp4 is used for cell phones and Mp4 players (that is, its quality is reduced).

AVI, MKV, MPG, WMV, FLV, OGM, MOV, MP4 are VIDEO CONTAINERS, that is, the files that contain video, audio and subtitle streams inside. The container has no effect on the quality of the video or audio or subtitle.

But which video format is better? An avi, mp4, wmv, mpeg?

The correct question is that VIDEO FORMAT offers the best quality / weight ratio.

DivX / XviD, h264, WMV8, WMV9 / HC-1, RV30 / RV40, VP8, MPEG are some VIDEO FORMATS.

The one that best quality / weight ratio offers at the moment is the H264 and which is widely surpassed by the new H265 that offers the same quality but at half the weight of an h264, the H265 standard – and the format has the same name – this Made for streaming video and take advantage of the bitrate or speed of transmitted data, this is why it offers this relationship of maintaining the same quality but at half the weight of the previous H264 standard.

The MOV and FLV containers have chosen to adopt this h264 format because of its quality / weight advantages, even though the h264 is the common format for videos on BluRay discs. There are also several encoders to h264 being the best free x264 encoder, so the free video software uses it, and some commercial programs also use it.

So you can play your movies without problems on your X media player, you should consider the following:

Read the manual to know which video CONTAINERS are recognizable by the software of the reproductive system, also that AUDIO and VIDEO FORMATS, and most importantly, WHAT coding FEATURES they must comply with.