Codecs, Container Formats, File Types

A container (such as .MKV or .MP4) is a standard way of organizing multiple data streams and metadata inside a file. Most obviously, Audio and Video exist inside of a video file. But other things, like subtitles, metadata, and alternative language translations also exist inside of files. Container formats allow new technologies to be plugged into a standard layout. For example Google’s new VP9 video codec can be dropped into existing .MKV files, without needing a new file type. Codecs, for both video and audio, specify how data is encoded. This can be compressed (such as H.264 or AV1; or uncompressed. Further codecs can be lossless, where all data is preserved resulting in larger file sizes, or lossy which sacrifices some visual fidelity for smaller file sizes. File Types tell you about the contents of files. A container format such as .MKV has more complexity than just the file extension. But some file types tell you exactly what the file is; such as .MOV being QuickTime. Or .MP3 being an audio file. The glitch artist needs to be aware of Codecs, Container Formats and File types; as some devices will record in some of these formats; you may need to translate them to other formats, some devices will not play certain formats, etc. Codecs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_codecs#Video_compression_formats https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_coding_format https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Compression_formats MXF & Other FREEWARE VIDEO CODECs :-) AV1 - Open, Royalty free modern video codec H.222/H.262 - a.ka. MPEG-2 The first really universal video codec. Digital TV, DVD, and internet streaming all used MPEG-2. H.264 MPEG-4 AVC (Advanced Video Coding) Very Common H.265 MPEG-H HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding). Used to have problems with platform support; that may no longer be the case. (adopted in 2016-2018 now common in 2020s devices) MJPEG - Motion JPEG. Unrelated to the MPEG standards. ProRes - An apple codec in-camera recording and for post-production. RAW - Raw uncompressed sensor data. (normally packaged in OEMs own extension format i.g R3d) VP9 - Google Codec Container Formats (Wrappers) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_container https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_video_container_formats .AVI - Audio Video Interleave .MKV - Matroska .MOV - Apple Quicktime .MP4 - MPEG-4 Part 14 .webm - Royalty-free format created for HTML5 video . It is a subset of Matroska. File Types (Extensions) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_file_types .3GP - A format seen on cell phones. .AVI - .GIF (Pronounced “GIF”) .MKV .MOV .MP4 .MPG, .MPEG - Came before .MP4 .WMV