The BDAV container format is a modification of the MPEG-2 transport stream (ITU-T H.222.0 | ISO/IEC 13818-1) specification for random-access media, such as Blu-ray discs, DVDs, hard drives or solid-state memory cards. The format is informally called M2TS.
In order to optimize the storage size, the format uses variable rate Transport Streams instead of the constant rates found in MPEG-2 TS broadcast. To be able to reconstruct a T-STD compliant constant rate Transport Stream for playback, the arrival timestamp of each packet needs to be recorded.[7]
The standard MPEG-2 TS 188-byte packet is prefixed with a 4-byte extra header to a total size of 192 bytes. The header consists of a 2-bit copy permission indicator and the 30-bit arrival timestamp with a resolution of 27MHz.[8]
The BDAV container format (.m2ts) is a standard used on Blu-ray discs.[9][10][11] Blu-ray disc titles authored with menu support are in the BDMV (Blu-ray disc Movie) format and contain audio, video, and other streams in a BDAV container (.m2ts), which is based on the MPEG transport stream format.[4][5] The BDAV container is also used in the BDAV (Blu-ray disc Audio/Visual) disc format, the consumer-oriented alternative to the BDMV discs. The BDAV disc format is used on BD-RE and BD-R discs for audio/video recording.[5][12]
The BDAV container with filename extension .MTS or .m2ts is also used in AVCHD format, which is a high-definition digital video camera recorder format.[13] AVCHD is a simpler form of the Blu-ray disc standard with just one video encoding algorithm and two audio encodings.[13][14] Compared to Blu-ray disc format, AVCHD can use various storage media, such as DVD media, memory cards or hard disk drives. The BDAV container contains videos recorded using AVCHD camcorders, such as Sony's HDR-SR(xx) series models. Panasonic, Canon and other brands of AVCHD camcorders also store recorded video in the BDAV container format.
The BDAV container format used on AVCHD equipment is more restricted and can contain only H.264/MPEG-4 AVC video compression and Dolby Digital (AC-3) audio compression or uncompressed LPCM audio.[14]
The names of M2TS files are in the form zzzzz.m2ts, where zzzzz is a 5-digit number corresponding to the audiovisual clip. This number is also used in the filename of an associated clip information file "zzzzz.clpi".[11] (This number can be a date and time stamp of when the video clip was recorded.) Each stream has its own file.[17]
Files in the AVCHD format use the legacy 8.3 filename convention, whereas Blu-ray discs use long filenames. This is why the filename extension of video files is ".MTS" instead of Blu-ray disc's ".m2ts". Also, other files use different extensions: .CPI– .clpi, .MPL– .mpls, .BDM– .bdmv.[13][18][19]
The M2TS files on a Blu-ray disc are placed in the subdirectory "STREAM" of the "BDMV" (or "BDAV") directory, which is at the root level. (e.g. \BDMV\STREAM\00001.m2ts or \BDAV\STREAM\00001.m2ts)[2][10] On some AVCHD equipment, the "BDMV" directory is located in the "AVCHD" directory, which is placed at the root level (e.g. \AVCHD\BDMV\STREAM\00001.MTS).[13]
Software support
Almost all commercially produced Blu-ray disc titles use a copy protection method called the Advanced Access Content System, which encrypts the content of the disc, including M2TS files. Software that supports M2TS files usually works only with decrypted or unencrypted files. Blu-ray disc software players can usually play back encrypted content from the original disc. Video content created using AVCHD equipment is commonly unencrypted.
Most M2TS files can be played with ALLPlayer, MPlayer, VLC, PotPlayer and other media players, depending on the compression formats used in the M2TS file. Some players will need an appropriate codec, component or plugin installed.
Current versions of Nero Vision, FormatFactory, MediaCoder, HandBrake and Picture Motion Browser are capable of converting M2TS files into MPEG-4 files, which can also be viewed using the aforementioned media players.
M2TS files can also be played on Sony PlayStation 3s, Sony Bravia TVs, Western Digital WDTVs, Xtreamer media player, Amkette FlashTV HD Media Player and Panasonic Viera TVs supporting playback of AVCHD.
Apple's Final Cut Pro can read .MTS files (as stored in Sony HDR camcorders) by using the AVCHD plugin in the Log and Transfer window.[19]
MPEG-2 is a standard for "the generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information". It describes a combination of lossy video compression and lossy audio data compression methods, which permit storage and transmission of movies using currently available storage media and transmission bandwidth. While MPEG-2 is not as efficient as newer standards such as H.264/AVC and H.265/HEVC, backwards compatibility with existing hardware and software means it is still widely used, for example in over-the-air digital television broadcasting and in the DVD-Video standard.
Video CD is a home video format and the first format for distributing films on standard 120 mm (4.7 in) optical discs. The format was widely adopted in Southeast Asia, South Asia, East Asia, Central Asia and West Asia, superseding the VHS and Betamax systems in the regions until DVD-Video finally became affordable in the first decade of the 21st century.
Windows Media Video (WMV) is a series of video codecs and their corresponding video coding formats developed by Microsoft. It is part of the Windows Media framework. WMV consists of three distinct codecs: The original video compression technology known as WMV, was originally designed for Internet streaming applications, as a competitor to RealVideo. The other compression technologies, WMV Screen and WMV Image, cater for specialized content. After standardization by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), WMV version 9 was adapted for physical-delivery formats such as HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc and became known as VC-1. Microsoft also developed a digital container format called Advanced Systems Format to store video encoded by Windows Media Video.
VOB is the container format in DVD-Video media. VOB can contain digital video, digital audio, subtitles, DVD menus and navigation contents multiplexed together into a stream form. Files in VOB format may be encrypted.
MPEG transport stream or simply transport stream (TS) is a standard digital container format for transmission and storage of audio, video, and Program and System Information Protocol (PSIP) data. It is used in broadcast systems such as DVB, ATSC and IPTV.
XDCAM is a series of products for digital recording using random access solid-state memory media, introduced by Sony in 2003. Four different product lines – the XDCAM SD, XDCAM HD, XDCAM EX and XDCAM HD422 – differ in types of encoder used, frame size, container type and in recording media.
TMPGEnc or TSUNAMI MPEG Encoder is a video transcoder software application primarily for encoding video files to VCD and SVCD-compliant MPEG video formats and was developed by Hiroyuki Hori and Pegasys Inc. TMPGEnc can also refer to the family of software video encoders created after the success of the original TMPGEnc encoder. These include: TMPGEnc Plus, TMPGEnc Free Version, TMPGenc Video Mastering Works, TMPGEnc Authoring Works, TMPGEnc MovieStyle and TMPGEnc MPEG Editor. TMPGEnc products run on Microsoft Windows.
cDVD discs, also known as mini-DVD discs, are regular data CDs that contain MPEG-2 or MPEG-1 video structured in accordance with the DVD-Video specifications.
These tables compare features of multimedia container formats, most often used for storing or streaming digital video or digital audio content. To see which multimedia players support which container format, look at comparison of media players.
AVCHD is a file-based format for the digital recording and playback of high-definition video. It is H.264 and Dolby AC-3 packaged into the MPEG transport stream, with a set of constraints designed around the camcorders.
Program stream is a container format for multiplexing digital audio, video and more. The PS format is specified in MPEG-1 Part 1 and MPEG-2 Part 1, Systems. The MPEG-2 Program Stream is analogous and similar to ISO/IEC 11172 Systems layer and it is forward compatible.
This article compares the technical specifications of multiple high-definition formats, including HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc; two mutually incompatible, high-definition optical disc formats that, beginning in 2006, attempted to improve upon and eventually replace the DVD standard. The two formats remained in a format war until February 19, 2008, when Toshiba, HD DVD's creator, announced plans to cease development, manufacturing and marketing of HD DVD players and recorders.
The DVD-VR standard defines a logical format for video recording on DVD-R, DVD-RW, and DVD-RAM style media, including the dual layer versions of these media. As opposed to media recorded with the DVD+VR recording standard, the resulting media are not DVD-Video compliant, and do not play back in some DVD-Video players. Most DVD video recorders in the market that support DVD-R, DVD-RW, or DVD-RAM media record to these media in DVD-VR mode, as well as in a DVD-Video compliant mode. It is possible to use the DVD-VR format with DVD+R and DVD+RW media, but no examples are known other than some PC based recording utilities.
Blu-ray is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-definition video. The main application of Blu-ray is as a medium for video material such as feature films and for the physical distribution of video games for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. The name refers to the blue laser used to read the disc, which allows information to be stored at a greater density than is possible with the longer-wavelength red laser used for DVDs.
HD DVD is an obsolete high-density optical disc format for storing data and playback of high-definition video. Supported principally by Toshiba, HD DVD was envisioned to be the successor to the standard DVD format, but lost to Blu-ray, supported by Sony and others.
MOD and TOD are recording formats for use in digital tapeless camcorders. The formats are comparable to XDCAM EX, HDV and AVCHD.
The Apple Intermediate Codec is a high-quality 8-bit 4:2:0 video codec used mainly as a less processor-intensive way of working with long-GOP MPEG-2 footage such as HDV. It is recommended for use with all HD workflows in Final Cut Express, iMovie, and until Final Cut Pro version 5. The Apple Intermediate Codec abbreviated AIC is designed by Apple Inc. to be an intermediate format in an HDV and AVCHD workflow. It features high performance and quality, being less processor intensive to work with than other editing formats. Unlike native MPEG-2 based HDV - and similar to the standard-definition DV codec - the Apple Intermediate Codec does not use temporal compression, enabling every frame to be decoded immediately without decoding other frames. As a result of this, the Apple Intermediate Codec takes three to four times more space than HDV.
DVD-Video is a consumer video format used to store digital video on DVD discs. DVD-Video was the dominant consumer home video format in Asia, North America, Europe, and Australia in the 2000s until it was supplanted by the high-definition Blu-ray Disc. Discs using the DVD-Video specification require a DVD drive and an MPEG-2 decoder. Commercial DVD movies are encoded using a combination of MPEG-2 compressed video and audio of varying formats. Typically, the data rate for DVD movies ranges from 3 to 9.5 Mbit/s, and the bit rate is usually adaptive. DVD-Video was first available in Japan on November 1, 1996, followed by a release on March 24, 1997 in the United States—to line up with the 69th Academy Awards that same day.
AVCREC is a format for recording and playback of high definition video in BDAV format using conventional DVD recordable discs as recording media. Presently, AVCREC is tightly integrated with ISDB broadcast standard and is not marketed outside Japan.
Super Video CD is a digital format for storing video on standard compact discs. SVCD was intended as a successor to Video CD and an alternative to DVD-Video, and falls somewhere between both in terms of technical capability and picture quality.
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