Video File Format Overview dp. Bestflow. Richard Harrington and Peter Krogh. Whats a file formatA communitybuilt site of hints and tips on using Apples new Mac OS X operating system. Sheet1 Newly Added Applications Hist KnownIssues STV Name Changes Windows Newly Added Catalog Acronis Inc. Adobe Systems Incorporated Apple Computer Inc. Vertu, the company that sells 50,000 smartphones, is shutting down its UK manufacturing operations. But everyone saw it coming. The liquidation will result in the. The transition from version 1. As a consequence some new projects have been established, based on Amarok version 1. Throwing things out of anger is never a smart move, but it can also lead to more serious consequences. Especially when youre at an airport and what youre. Pay What You Want The Worlds Biggest Mac App Bundle Make Your Mac Smarter, Faster, Safer, More Fun with These 15 Elite Apps. More ways to shop Visit an Apple Store, call 1800MYAPPLE, or find a reseller. ITunes acts as a front end for Apples QuickTime media framework. Officially, it is required in order to manage the audio data of an iPod, iPhone, or iPad, although. No more missed important software updates UpdateStar 11 lets you stay up to date and secure with the software on your computer. A file format is the structure in which information is stored encoded in a computer file. When dealing with video, a large amount of data is required to depict a video signal accurately, this information is often compressed and written into a container file. Divx Ipod Migration ' title='Divx Ipod Migration ' />This section outlines digital video file formats what they are, the differences between them, and how best to use them. There are many different formats for saving video, which can be confusing. Some formats are optimal for capture of video, and some are best used for editing workflow. And there are quite a few video formats that are used for delivery and distribution of video. Its a jungle out there Video files are significantly more complex that still image files. Not only is there a lot more different kinds of information inside them, but the structure of a video file is much more mix and match. Divx Ipod Migration ' title='Divx Ipod Migration ' />Watch32 Watch Movies on Watch32. Watch32 is the Biggest Library of free Full Movies. Watch 32 Movies Online. You can tell a lot about most still image files by the file extension, but that does not hold for video. The file type such as. MOV is just a container, and could be filled with really low quality web video, or it might have ultra high quality 3 D video and five channels of theater quality audio. As photographers, weve become accustomed to Photoshops ability to open nearly any image file and work with it. The digital video world depends on hundreds of different codecs to make and play files. And just because codecs make files with the same encoding family such as H. Yikes. And yet, it is possible to learn enough to get your work done, once you understand some of the basic structural elements. Lets dive in, starting from the outside and peel back the layers. The anatomy of a video file. While there is a wide range of video formats, in general, each format has the following characteristics. A container type AVI and Quicktime MOV are two examples of container types. The video and audio signal This the actual video and audio data, which has characteristics described in the next section. A Codec Codec refers to the software that is used to encode and decode the video signal. Video applications use a codec to write the file and to read it. It may be built in to the program, or installed separately. The characteristics of a video signal Every video file has some attributes that describe what makes up the video signal. These characteristics include Frame size This is the pixel dimension of the frame. The Aspect Ratio This is the ratio of width to height. Frame rate This is the speed at which the frames are captured and intended for playback. Bitrate The bitrate or data rate is the amount of data used to describe the audio or video portion of the file. It is typically measured in per second units and can be in kilobytes, megabytes or gigabytes per second. In general, the higher the bitrate, the better the quality. The audio sample rate This is how often the audio is sampled when converted from an analog source to a digital file. READ MORE ABOUT VIDEO SIGNAL ATTRIBUTES IN THIS SECTIONFile Format ContainerAll file formats are structures for bundling up some type of data. And nearly every computer file has more than one type of data inside the file. Video files are particularly complex internally, but they all need to be stored in one of the basic container types. Within a particular container type, such as Quicktime or AVI, there can be a vast difference between the video signal attributes, the codecs used, and the compression. In some ways, this is similar to the large number of raw file formats for still photography. You may have two files with the file extension CR2, but that does not mean they are equivalent. The guts of each of the files may have different resolutions, for instance, and a piece of software that can open one of these may not be capable of opening the other one. Container extensions include MOV, AVI, FLV, MP4, and MXF. Whats in the container If you cant tell much about the file from its file extension, how do you know whats in thereYour system software may tell you part of the story. On Mac, select the file and go to File File Info. You can see some of the file attributes in the General and More Info sections, as shown in Figure 1. On PC, select the file and right click and select Properties. Figure 1. Your OS can tell you something about a video file. Here is the Mac file info from a Nikon D7. Additionally, there are freestanding utilities that may give you even more information. If you are on PC, then a program called GSpot can provide additional information. Media. Info is a cross platform program that can also provide some information about a video file beyond what the OS tells you. Codecs. Inside every video file container is the video and audio data. This data is created by a piece of software called a codec, short for compressordecompressor or compressdecompress. You can think of codecs as little helper applications that the program or the operating system uses to make or play the video file. Without the proper codec, a video file cant be played by a computer. Video codecs are often proprietary and may involve additional licensing fees. Video editing software and your operating system will always come with at least a few built in codecs, and will usually allow you to install others. How are codecs different from containers This one gets a bit tricky for photographers to understand, since its pretty different from the way still image files work. The file format container such as. MOV or. AVI is a way to pack up the data for storage. The codec such as H. It is possible, for instance, to take an MTS file created with the H. Psp Ipod Movies Adventure Time Movie. MOV file by simply rewrapping. During the rewrap process, only the small bits at the start and end of the file are changed, while the vast majority of the file data stays exactly the same. Codec compatibility. The large number of codecs in use make video compatibility a very complicated arena. You cant tell what codec is used by the file extension, and your system software may only give you partial information. Your video editing software may be able to tell you what codec was used to make the file, or you may need to get some specialized software. H. 2. 64 codec. One of the most versatile codec families in use today is H. H. 2. 64 is also called MPEG 4 Part 1. AVC. It offers excellent compression with high quality, and it is extremely versatile. When H. 2. 64 is used with a high bit rate, it provides really excellent quality, as you will see if you play a Blu ray disc. And its also useful when compression is the most important feature. It is the codec used by web streaming by services such as Vimeo. In addition to a great qualitycompression ratio, H. It can support 3 D video if you wish, as well as a number of different audio encoding schemes. In one variation or other, H. Among these are Blu ray disc. Apple i. Phone, i. Pad and i. Pod. Canon cameras like the 5. D, 7. D, and 1. Ds Mark IVNikon cameras like the D7. D4 and D8. 00. Vimeo and You. Tube web services. Sony Play Station Portable. Microsoft Zune. The Adobe Flash and Microsoft Silverlight players. Decoding for H. 2. Intels Sandy Bridge i. Container formats that support H. One reason that H. Among the types that support H. Bit rate. The bit rate, or data rate of a video file is the size of the data stream when the video is playing, as measured in kilobits or megabits per second Kbps or Mbps. Bit rate is a critical characteristic of a file because it specifies the minimum capabilities of the hard drive transfer rate or Internet connection needed to play a video without interruption. If any part of the playback system cannot keep up with the bit rate, the video will stutter or stall. Because bit rate describes how much data can be in the video signal, it has a vital impact on the video quality. Toms Hardware Articles Find and Filter Our Latest Articles. Accenture, a global management consulting and professional services firm, exposed sensitive information such as private keys, credentials, and secret API data of its Fortune 5.