Video file format

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A video file format is a type of file format for storing digital video data on a computer system. Video is almost always stored using lossy compression to reduce the file size.

Contents

A video file normally consists of a container (e.g. in the Matroska format) containing visual (video without audio) data in a video coding format (e.g. VP9) alongside audio data in an audio coding format (e.g. Opus). The container can also contain synchronization information, subtitles, and metadata such as title. A standardized (or in some cases de facto standard) video file type such as .webm is a profile specified by a restriction on which container format and which video and audio compression formats are allowed.

The coded video and audio inside a video file container (i.e. not headers, footers, and metadata) is called the essence. A program (or hardware) which can decode compressed video or audio is called a codec; playing or encoding a video file will sometimes require the user to install a codec library corresponding to the type of video and audio coding used in the file.

Good design normally dictates that a file extension enable the user to derive which program will open the file from the file extension. That is the case with some video file formats, such as WebM (.webm), Windows Media Video (.wmv), Flash Video (.flv), and Ogg Video (.ogv), each of which can only contain a few well-defined subtypes of video and audio coding formats, making it relatively easy to know which codec will play the file. In contrast to that, some very general-purpose container types like AVI (.avi) and QuickTime (.mov) can contain video and audio in almost any format, and have file extensions named after the container type, making it very hard for the end user to use the file extension to derive which codec or program to use to play the files.

The free software FFmpeg project's libraries have very wide support for encoding and decoding video file formats. For example, Google uses ffmpeg to support a wide range of upload video formats for YouTube. [1] One widely used media player using the ffmpeg libraries is the free software VLC media player, which can play most video files that end users will encounter.

List of video file formats

NameFile extension(s)Container formatVideo coding format(s)Audio coding format(s)Notes
WebM .webm Matroska VP8, VP9, AV1 Vorbis, Opus Royalty-free format created for HTML video.
Matroska .mkv Matroska anyany
Flash Video (FLV).flvFLV VP6, Sorenson Spark, Screen video, Screen video 2, H.264 MP3, ADPCM, Nellymoser, Speex, AAC Use of the H.264 and AAC compression formats in the FLV file format has some limitations and authors of Flash Player strongly encourage everyone to embrace the new standard F4V file format [2] de facto standard for web-based streaming video (over RTMP).
F4V .flv MPEG-4 Part 12 H.264 MP3, AAC Replacement for FLV.
Vob .vobVOB H.262/MPEG-2 Part 2 or MPEG-1 Part 2 PCM, DTS, MPEG-1, Audio Layer II (MP2), or Dolby Digital (AC-3)Files in VOB format have .vob filename extension and are typically stored in the VIDEO_TS folder at the root of a DVD. The VOB format is based on the MPEG program stream format.
Ogg Video.ogv, .ogg Ogg Theora, Dirac Vorbis, FLAC
Dirac .drc ? Dirac  ?
GIF .gifN/AN/AnoneSimple animation, inefficient compression, no sound, widely supported
Video alternative to GIF .gifvHTMLanynoneNot standardized, and not a real video file in the classical meaning since it merely references the real video file (e.g. a .webm file), which has to exist separately elsewhere. A .gifv "file" is simply a HTML webpage which includes a HTML video tag, where the video has no sound. As there were large communities online which create art using the medium of short soundless videos in GIF format, GIFV was created as a functionally similar replacement with vastly smaller filesizes than the inefficient GIF format.
Multiple-image Network Graphics .mngN/AN/AnoneInefficient, not widely used.
AVI .aviAVIanyanyUses RIFF
MPEG Transport Stream .MTS, .M2TS, .TS AVCHD AVCHD (MPEG-4 / H.264 )Dolby AC-3 or uncompressed linear PCMThe standard video format used by many Sony and Panasonic HD camcorders. It is also used for storing high definition video on Blu-ray discs.
QuickTime File Format .mov, .qtQuickTimemany [3] AAC, MP3, others [3]
Windows Media Video .wmv ASF Windows Media Video, Windows Media Video Screen, Windows Media Video ImageWindows Media Audio, Sipro ACELP.net
Raw video format.yuvFurther documentation neededDoesn't applyDoesn't applySupports all resolutions, sampling structures, and frame rates
RealMedia (RM).rm RealMedia RealVideo RealAudio Made for RealPlayer
RealMedia Variable Bitrate (RMVB).rmvb RealMedia Variable Bitrate RealVideo RealAudio Made for RealPlayer
VivoActive (VIV).vivVIVbased upon H.263 videoG.723 ADPCM audio (not the G.723.1 speech codec)Made for VivoActive Player
Advanced Systems Format (ASF).asf ASF anyany
AMV video format .amvModified version of AVI [4] Variant of Motion JPEG Variant of IMA, ADPCMProprietary video file format produced for MP4 players and S1 MP3 players with video playback
MPEG-4 Part 14 (MP4).mp4, .m4p (with DRM), .m4v MPEG-4 Part 12 H.264, H.265, MPEG-4 Part 2, MPEG-2, MPEG-1 Advanced Audio Coding, MP3, others
MPEG-1 .mpg, .mp2, .mpeg, .mpe, .mpvMPEG-1 part 1MPEG-1 part 2MPEG-1 Audio Layer I, MPEG-1 Audio Layer III (MP3)Old, but very widely used due to installed base.
MPEG-2  – Video.mpg, .mpeg, .m2v ? H.262 AAC, MP3, MPEG-2 Part 3, others
M4V .m4v MPEG-4 Part 12 H.264 AAC, Dolby Digital Developed by Apple, used in iTunes. Very similar to MP4 format, but may optionally have DRM.
SVI.sviMPEG-4 utilising a special header ? ?Samsung video format for portable players
3GPP .3gp MPEG-4 Part 12 MPEG-4 Part 2, H.263, H.264 AMR-NB, AMR-WB, AMR-WB+, AAC-LC, HE-AAC v1 or Enhanced aacPlus (HE-AAC v2)Common video format for cell phones
3GPP2 .3g2 MPEG-4 Part 12 MPEG-4 Part 2, H.263, H.264 AMR-NB, AMR-WB, AMR-WB+, AAC-LC, HE-AAC v1 or Enhanced aacPlus (HE-AAC v2), EVRC, SMV or VMR-WB Common video format for cell phones
Material Exchange Format (MXF).mxfMXF ? ?
ROQ.roq ? ? ?used by Quake 3 [5]
Nullsoft Streaming Video (NSV).nsvNSV ??For streaming video content over the Internet
Flash Video (FLV).flv .f4v .f4p .f4a .f4bAudio, video, text, dataAdobe Flash Platform SWF, F4V, ISO base media file formatDeveloped by the Adobe Flash Platform

See also

Related Research Articles

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An audio file format is a file format for storing digital audio data on a computer system. The bit layout of the audio data is called the audio coding format and can be uncompressed, or compressed to reduce the file size, often using lossy compression. The data can be a raw bitstream in an audio coding format, but it is usually embedded in a container format or an audio data format with defined storage layer.

A codec is a device or computer program that encodes or decodes a data stream or signal. Codec is a portmanteau of coder/decoder.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ogg</span> Open container format maintained by the Xiph.Org Foundation

Ogg is a free, open container format maintained by the Xiph.Org Foundation. The authors of the Ogg format state that it is unrestricted by software patents and is designed to provide for efficient streaming and manipulation of high-quality digital multimedia. Its name is derived from "ogging", jargon from the computer game Netrek.

Audio Video Interleave is a proprietary multimedia container format and Windows standard introduced by Microsoft in November 1992 as part of its Video for Windows software. AVI files can contain both audio and video data in a file container that allows synchronous audio-with-video playback. Like the DVD video format, AVI files support multiple streaming audio and video, although these features are seldom used.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">FLAC</span> Lossless digital audio coding format

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Theora is a free lossy video compression format. It was developed by the Xiph.Org Foundation and distributed without licensing fees alongside their other free and open media projects, including the Vorbis audio format and the Ogg container.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">FFmpeg</span> Multimedia framework

FFmpeg is a free and open-source software project consisting of a suite of libraries and programs for handling video, audio, and other multimedia files and streams. At its core is the command-line ffmpeg tool itself, designed for processing of video and audio files. It is widely used for format transcoding, basic editing, video scaling, video post-production effects and standards compliance.

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.

RealVideo, or also spelled as Real Video, is a suite of proprietary video compression formats developed by RealNetworks — the specific format changes with the version. It was first released in 1997 and as of 2008 was at version 10. RealVideo is supported on many platforms, including Windows, Mac, Linux, Solaris, and several mobile phones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smacker video</span> Digital video file format

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A container format or metafile is a file format that allows multiple data streams to be embedded into a single file, usually along with metadata for identifying and further detailing those streams. Notable examples of container formats include archive files and formats used for multimedia playback. Among the earliest cross-platform container formats were Distinguished Encoding Rules and the 1985 Interchange File Format.

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FAAC is a software project which includes the AAC encoder FAAC and decoder FAAD2. It supports MPEG-2 AAC as well as MPEG-4 AAC. It supports several MPEG-4 Audio object types, file formats, multichannel and gapless encoding/decoding and MP4 metadata tags. The encoder and decoder is compatible with standard-compliant audio applications using one or more of these object types and facilities. It also supports Digital Radio Mondiale.

Flash Video is a container file format used to deliver digital video content over the Internet using Adobe Flash Player version 6 and newer. Flash Video content may also be embedded within SWF files. There are two different Flash Video file formats: FLV and F4V. The audio and video data within FLV files are encoded in the same way as SWF files. The F4V file format is based on the ISO base media file format, starting with Flash Player 9 update 3. Both formats are supported in Adobe Flash Player and developed by Adobe Systems. FLV was originally developed by Macromedia. In the early 2000s, Flash Video was the de facto standard for web-based streaming video. Users include Hulu, VEVO, Yahoo! Video, metacafe, Reuters.com, and many other news providers.

MPEG-4 Audio Lossless Coding, also known as MPEG-4 ALS, is an extension to the MPEG-4 Part 3 audio standard to allow lossless audio compression. The extension was finalized in December 2005 and published as ISO/IEC 14496-3:2005/Amd 2:2006 in 2006. The latest description of MPEG-4 ALS was published as subpart 11 of the MPEG-4 Audio standard in December 2019.

AMV is a proprietary video file format, produced for MP4 players, as well as S1 MP3 players with video playback. There are two different versions of this format: an older one for Actions chips, and a newer one for ALi's M5661 chip, sometimes called ALIAVI.

Asao is a proprietary single-channel (mono) codec and compression format optimized for low-bitrate transmission of audio, developed by Nellymoser Inc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Libav</span> Multimedia framework

Libav is an abandoned free software project, forked from FFmpeg in 2011, that contains libraries and programs for handling multimedia data.

References

  1. ↑ "Google's YouTube Uses FFmpeg | Breaking Eggs And Making Omelettes". multimedia.cx. 9 February 2011.
  2. ↑ Kaourantin.net (31 October 2007) Tinic Uro New File Extensions and MIME Types Archived 2010-07-06 at the Wayback Machine , Retrieved on 2009-08-03
  3. 1 2 "QuickTime File Format". www.digitalpreservation.gov. 2013-02-14.
  4. ↑ "AMV codec tools" code.google.com
  5. ↑ "RoQ - MultimediaWiki". wiki.multimedia.cx.
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