<\/span><\/h2>\nBut let’s see a description of each concept to make it even clearer:<\/p>\n
Container format<\/strong>: A video file usually has a specific container format, such as AVI, MP4 or MKV, for example. As the name implies, a file with this format contains several elements (usually and at least, video and audio). However, it is possible that it only includes one of them, or for example multiple audio channels (to have several languages \u200b\u200bof the same file). Some container formats also allow you to include other elements such as images or integrated subtitles, without the need for external files.<\/p>\nVideo codec<\/strong>: It is often confused with the video format, but it really is not the same, since it is related to the video content and not to the container format. It is not a mandatory element, since if a codec is not specified, the video is contained in RAW (uncompressed), taking up a lot of space (for example, 200MB about 10sec). For that reason, a codec is usually chosen to compress the video. Depending on the codec’s choice, better or worse quality will be achieved, and in turn, larger or smaller.<\/p>\nVideo specification<\/strong>: Each video codec is usually based on a specific video specification (H.262, H.263, H.264 …), which is nothing more than a set of rules that define how it should behave. This can guide us to know if one codec is more or less recent than another.<\/p>\nAudio codec<\/strong>: In the same way as with the video, we have possible audio channels included in the file. They are also usually compressed with a certain codec to save space: MP3, OGG Vorbis, WMA …<\/p>\nOnce this is clear, we will review the most popular container formats and the video codecs that they usually use (this does not imply that they cannot also be used in other container formats):<\/p>\n