Explaining Digital Video: Formats, Codecs & Containers
Video Overview & Insights
Digital video formats, codecs and containers explained, including MP4, MOV, MXF, H.264, H.265, ProRes, DNxHD, H.262, M-JPEG, 3GP, MTS, AVCHD, XAVC-I, XAVC-S, XF-AVC, AS-11 DPP and DCP.
MKV is missing, as other said.
But there is also another thing missing: AV1 codec!
It was already born when this video came out, but maybe poorly known, so it's understandable.
Anyway, it's a great interframe video codec if you want storage efficiency, it really surprised me.
You may also be interested in my videos:
Explaining Image File Formats -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WblPwVq9KnU
DaVinci Resolve 17: The Best Free Video Editor -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bVBa4vF69M
Top 8 Free Video Editors 2020 -
I had to learn about video formats and codecs, because my TV is old and i wanted to watch a film from a usb, like i used to years ago. It doesnt support x265 and i was very confused what that is, all torrents i found were x265. Finally found one that is x264 and it ran perfectly. Also my TV needs more time to read MKV than MP4. Your video is so helpful and so well explained!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmHAiUcAPwk
More videos on computing and related topics can be found at:
.mkv forgotten
http://www.youtube.com/explainingcomputers
You may also like my ExplainingTheFuture channel at: http://www.youtube.com/explainingthefuture
Wow! Such an amazing lesson. I've been working in the television industry for over a decade and it wasn't until I watched this video that I truly understood formats, codecs and containers. Thank you so much!
Chapters
00:00 Introduction
I really needed this. I am creating my own media player as a fun side project and needed to have a good start codec and containers
00:34 Formats, Codecs & Containers
03:27 Codecs
I found out the other day when trying to edit some video clips from my older Panasonic X920 which produces Mpeg-TS files. Newer Video Editors do like this file type and either crash or won't play the audio. Older editors like AVS Video Editor are fine.
One has to convert the Mpeg-TS video to MPG4. You would think all new video editors would have no trouble with old file formats.
07:47 Containers
10:32 Formats
Good vid, with a crisp and clear explanation! Well done! Perhaps should have included MKV as well, since this format is especially and increasingly populair in multi-language video's, as it can contain multiple audio-streams making it more easier to distribute one file with multi-language support (audio, subtitles) and also support cover-images, chapter information etc.
Since this video is already 4 years old I would look forward to an updated version, also including vp9 / av1 as codecs and mkv as container, and perhaps some elaboration about audio-codecs, since the time of choosing between 1 channel (mono), 2 channels (stereo) or 6 channels (dolby 5.1) are long gone :)
12:55 Format Evolution
Thank you for explaining, so that I do not feel stupid. It is a very complex subject.
More User Perspectives
You capture video in one format, and out in other.
When you say "output" does it mean that after editing it you stored it in different format?🤔
You can tell an artist made this video. Typeface choice was on par dood!
@rbdesignguyThank you | Definitely appreciate the clear expiation of formats, codecs & containers.
@YinyangiStudiosExcellent and important explanation. I would be happy if you would publish the information in written format or in a presentation that would include the information and its summary.
@יוסילנגנטלThank you.
@s.cam44::skips straight to containers::
@CdaprodThis is a really good video, it allowed me to easily understand all these video formats!
You earned yourself a subscribe and a like!
Rip Xvid/divX
@ruipinho7885H264 needs to die and replaced by AV1 but it is still damn fast on video editors to work with. Funny how an inferior paid licensed sht product is still used a lot more than a vastly superior open source free codec. Especially when they are already working on AV2... Unbelievable knucklehead industry.
@DaFuQ3rhow about bup.
@memdkPaused to get a gummy
@Harry_butcrackMeanwhile MKV:
"So, what kind of codecs can you contain?"
MKV answers "yes"
When I heard about images and learnt about different formats and how they work, I felt confident
After watching this video , I realised that videos are much more complicated than images , need to learn about these more!
The Video is really great!
I wonder if you can go thru the various standards for stills photography including flavours of RAW, files (containers?), with it’s “side car” and what I guess are short clips as in “prerelease capture” (on Nikon). Perhaps also watermarking and multimedia metadata like “voice notes”, apparently attached to a picture in a file?
@Stephen_BakerThey don’t teach this in college. Thank you so much for this amazing explanation and lesson!
@GabeKanaeWhere is DivX?
@sooo0kieGreat video good explanation now… what do we used? Cuz how on earth do new comers navigate these waters.
@Davidmill86I was really confused the first time I found a video with multiple H.264 streams in a single MP4 container.
@tom95521Mp4 is best for support but my obs sets it to .mkv when recording a vid to avoid curroption when its interrupted but i use obs to post on yt but hey at least remux exist!
@rakan-o4nClear as water!
@jlou888Amazing video! :)
@gab-n6gWould have been nice an explanation on the containers and their differences.
@NeoprototypeThis is the video I should have stumbled on 3 years ago when I was struggling with this domain knowledge, Thank you Senior
@ayomideakindutire6347thank you
@chadzombiehunterhow can you not mention mkv in containers?
@print-Ch1Damn tech nerd lunatics what the hell is this!
how many codecs and container you made up..psychopaths!!!
What I missed was any mention of WMV which I thought was the most common, at least a few years ago?
@renowden2010Remember DivX?
@RaginBajanStrange that you ignored an open source container project in your entire video. Maybe you assumed everyone was aware of it indeed.
@prajjawalpathak5335Excellent presentation. Thank you.
@albertomauiztic7660Thank you! Now I know a bit more about all the settings in my screen capture and video editing programs. :)
I'm surprised you didn't mention the Matroska container. It seems to have gained a lot of popularity in recent years.
I like how he let us know the format of his video
@michaelaboniti6991Thanks, good video.
@aaronschneider1581Matroska (.mkv) is my favourite container.
@CtrlFluorynemy head hurts
@BM5556Thank you sir! You’re a gentleman and a scholar
@pcast1510This is such a good video, saved me a lot of research to find out what exactly my camera produces on a data level.
@dingbatfpvThanks so much for an excellent useful and perfectly delivered video.
@martinjones5965It's surprising that this otherwise comprehensive treatise had no mention of or information on the MKV container
@themonkeydrunkenStarted to really click with the cassette analogue. Really nice introductory video!
@whynotanyting