Comparison of video container formats: Difference between revisions
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Revision as of 11:54, 21 March 2011
This article needs additional citations for verification. (December 2007) |
This table compares features of container formats. To see which multimedia players support which container format, look at comparison of media players.
Information
Name and file extension, if different | Proprietor/Developer | License | Support for B-frames | Variable bit rate audio | Variable frame rate | Chapters | Captions (Subtitles) | Video formats supported | Audio formats supported | Metadata/Tags supported | Menu Support (like DVD) | Streaming Support |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
3GP | 3GPP | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | 3GPP Timed Text | H.263, MPEG-4 Part 2 and H.264/MPEG-4 AVC | AMR-NB, AMR-WB, AMR-WB+, AAC, HE-AAC and HE-AAC v2 | ? | No | ? |
3G2 | 3GPP2 | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | 3GPP Timed Text | H.263, MPEG-4 Part 2 and H.264/MPEG-4 AVC | AMR-NB, AMR-WB, AAC, HE-AAC, EVRC, EVRC-B, EVRC-WB, 13K (QCELP), SMV or VMR-WB | ? | No | ? |
Advanced Systems Format (.asf, .wma, .wmv) | Microsoft | Proprietary, patent encumbered | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Almost anything through VFW or DMO; H.264/AVC is problematic | Almost anything through ACM or DMO; Vorbis is problematic | Yes | No | Yes |
AVI | Microsoft | ? | Yes[1] | Yes[2] | Yes[3] | Yes, via third party modifications | Yes, via third party modifications | Almost anything through VFW; H.264/AVC is problematic due to the limited B-frame support[4] | Almost anything through ACM; Vorbis is problematic [5] | not officially | No | Yes |
DivX Media Format (.divx) | DivX, Inc. | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | MPEG-4 Part 2 video encoded to meet DivX profiles | MP3, PCM, AC-3 | ? | Yes | Yes |
EVO | MPEG | Patent encumbered | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | MPEG-2 Part 2, H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, VC-1 | AC-3, E-AC-3, Dolby TrueHD, Linear PCM, DTS, DTS-HD, MPEG-2 Part 3 | ? | Yes | ? |
F4V (Flash Video) | Adobe Systems | Patent encumbered | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | H.264/MPEG-4 AVC | MP3, AAC, HE-AAC[6] | Yes | No | Yes |
FLV (Flash Video) | Adobe Systems | Patent encumbered | Yes | ? | Yes | No | No | Sorenson, VP6, Screen Video, H.264/MPEG-4 AVC[7][8] | MP3, Nellymoser, ADPCM, Linear PCM, AAC[9], Speex[10] | Yes | No | Yes |
Matroska (.mkv, .mk3d, .mka, .mks) | CoreCodec, Inc.[11] | Freely licensed[12] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes[13] | Yes | Virtually anything | Virtually anything | Yes[14] | currently under development by CoreCodec[15] | Yes[16] |
MCF | Community | BSD-style license for specs, GNU for tools | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | ? |
MP4 | MPEG | Patent encumbered | Yes | Yes | Yes | 1) In specially formatted text track (QuickTime); 2) In userdata atom (started by Nero Digital) can't interact with the sceneDescription, or via segmentDescriptor | ttxt, VobSubs with private objectTypeIndication not usable with the sceneDescription (started by Nero), BIFS | MPEG-2 Part 2, MPEG-4 ASP, H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, H.263, VC-1, Dirac, others[17] | MPEG-2/4 (HE)-AAC, MPEG-1/2 Layers I, II, III (MP3), AC-3, Apple Lossless, ALS, SLS, Vorbis(with private objectTypeIndication), others[17] | Yes | Yes | Yes |
MPEG Video File (.mpg, .mpeg) | MPEG | Patent encumbered | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | MPEG-1, MPEG-2[18] | MPEG-1 Layers I, II, III (mp3), other formats only in private streams: LPCM[19] | No | No | Yes |
MPEG program stream PS (.ps) | MPEG | Patent encumbered | Yes | Yes | ? | Only in private streams — used in VOB files on DVDs | Only in private streams — used in VOB files on DVDs | MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 Part 2[18], VC-1, H.264[20] | MPEG-1 Layers I, II, III (mp3), other formats only in private streams: AAC, AC-3, LPCM, DTS[19] | No | Only in private streams — used in VOB files on DVDs | ? |
MPEG transport stream TS (.ts) | MPEG | Patent encumbered | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | possible via ETSI EN 300 743 | MPEG-1, MPEG-2 Part 2, MPEG-4 ASP, H.264, other formats in private streams: VC-1, Dirac[21] | MPEG-1 Layers I, II, III (mp3), AAC, other formats in private streams: AC-3, LPCM, DTS[21] | No | No | Yes |
BDAV MPEG-2 transport stream (.m2ts) | Blu-ray Disc Association | Proprietary | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | MPEG-2 Part 2, H.264, VC-1 | AC-3, DTS, LPCM, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS HD, Dolby Lossless | ? | ? | ? |
MXF | SMPTE | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Virtually anything | Virtually anything | Yes | No | ? |
Ogg | Xiph.org | Patent-free, Free software implementations available | Yes[1] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Ogg Writ, Ogg Kate | Theora, Dirac, OggUVS, MNG and others[22][23], almost anything through VFW | Vorbis, FLAC, Speex, CELT, OggPCM[22][23], almost anything through ACM | CMML, Ogg Skeleton, Vorbis comment[24] | No | Yes |
Quicktime (.mov, .qt) | Apple | Proprietary | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Limited to what is available to the QuickTime codec manager | Limited to what is available to Sound Manager or CoreAudio | Yes | Can be done by using sprite tracks | Yes |
RMVB | RealNetworks | Proprietary | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | RealVideo 8, 9, 10 | (HE)-AAC, Cook Codec, Vorbis, RealAudio Lossless | ? | No | Yes |
VOB+IFO | DVD Forum | Proprietary | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | MPEG-2 Part 2, MPEG-1 Part 2 | AC-3, Linear PCM, DTS, MPEG-2 Part 3, MPEG-1 Layer II | No | Yes | ? |
WebM | WebM Project | perpetual license grant to patents | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | VP8[25] | Vorbis[26] | No | No | Yes[27] |
Proprietor/Developer | License | Support for B-frames | Variable bit rate audio | Variable frame rate | Chapters | Captions (Subtitles) | Video formats supported | Audio formats supported | Metadata/Tags supported | Menu Support (like DVD) | Streaming Support |
Formats supported
Audio formats supported
Lossy compression | Lossless compression | ||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
MP3 | WMA | RealAudio | Vorbis | Musepack | AAC | AC-3 | DTS | PCM | APE | FLAC | ALAC | WavPack | MLP / Dolby TrueHD | DTS-HD | |
QuickTime | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | ? | No | No |
AVI | Yes | Yes | No | not officially | No | Yes [28] | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | ? | ? |
Matroska | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Scheduled [29] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
MP4 | Yes | Yes | No | not officially | ? | Yes | Yes [30] | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No |
MXF | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
Ogg | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
Video formats supported
MPEG-1 | MPEG-2 | MPEG-4 (A)SP | H.264/MPEG-4 AVC | VC-1/WMV | RealVideo | Theora | Microsoft MPEG4 V2 | VP8 | MVC | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
QuickTime | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
AVI | Yes | Yes | Yes | Problematic, limited B-frame support[4] | Yes | No | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
OGM | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
Matroska | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes[31] |
MP4 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes[32] | No | No | ? | ? | Yes |
MXF | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Caption (Subtitle) formats supported
QuickTime | AVI | OGM | Matroska | MP4 | MXF | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
AQTitle | ? | No | ? | ? | ? | ? |
JACOSub [2] | ? | No | ? | ? | ? | ? |
MicroDVD | ? | No | ? | ? | ? | ? |
MPEG-4 Timed Text | ? | No | ? | ? | Yes | ? |
MPSub | ? | No | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Ogg Writ | ? | No | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
Ogg Kate | ? | No | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |
Phoenix Subtitle | ? | No | ? | ? | ? | ? |
PowerDivX | ? | No | ? | ? | ? | ? |
RealText [3] | ? | No | ? | ? | ? | ? |
SAMI | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Structured Subtitle Format | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
SubRip | ? | Yes, via third party modifications | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
Gloss Subtitle | ? | No | ? | ? | ? | ? |
(Advanced) SubStation Alpha | ? | Yes, via third party modifications | ? | Yes | Yes | ? |
SubViewer | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Universal Subtitle Format | ? | No | ? | Yes | ? | ? |
VobSub | ? | ? | ? | Yes, requires VobSub v7+ [33] | ? | ? |
XSUB | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (October 2010) |
Notes and references
- ^ a b B-frames are not natively supported so bitstream processing or "packing" is needed. Details on this can be found in MPEG-4 B-frames in AVI/VFW description.
- ^ ACM cannot handle VBR audio streams in AVI files. Thus, software using ACM to read audio from AVI files will not be able to handle VBR audio streams correctly, even though such files are compliant to the AVI file specification. This is a limitation of the ACM, not of the AVI file format.
- ^ Although AVI is not designed for variable framerates, it is possible to use them without creating a non-standard file by using 0-byte chunks for skipped frames. However it requires framerate to be set to Least common multiple of all framerates used, and produces slight overhead compared to true VFR.
- ^ a b Through an updated x264/ffdshow filter it is possible to view H.264 in an AVI file.
- ^ Although FFmpeg has introduced a solution to put Vorbis audio into AVI files, this "extension" is not compatible with existing Vorbis decoders for DirectShow and ACM. Putting Vorbis in an AVI container is very problematic. The way Nandub stored Vorbis audio streams in AVI files occasionally caused desychronisation when seeking.
- ^ Adobe Systems Incorporated (November 2008). "Video File Format Specification, Version 10" (PDF). Adobe Systems Incorporated: 33. Retrieved 2009-08-03.
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(help) [dead link] - ^ H.264/MPEG-4 AVC support is available in Adobe Flash Player 9 Update 3 (version 9.0.115.0 from December 2007) press release
- ^ H.264/MPEG-4 AVC What just happened to video on the web? [1]
- ^ AAC support is available in Adobe Flash Player 9 Update 3 (version 9.0.115.0 from December 2007) press release
- ^ Adobe Systems Incorporated (November 2008). "Video File Format Specification, Version 10" (PDF). Adobe Systems Incorporated: 6. Retrieved 2009-08-03.
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(help) [dead link] - ^ Although CoreCodec holds the copyrights and trademarks for the Matroska specification, the specifications are open to everybody. The source code of the libraries developed by the Matroska team is licensed under the LGPL and BSD licenses.
- ^ Anyone can use it or modify it for their own needs without paying any license or patents. http://www.matroska.org/info/legal/index.html
- ^ Matroska supports simple chapters and nested chapters. http://www.matroska.org/technical/specs/chapters/index.html
- ^ http://www.matroska.org/technical/menu/index.html
- ^ In the case of Matroska, there are mostly 2 different kinds of stream: file access and live streaming. http://www.matroska.org/technical/streaming/index.html
- ^ a b mp4ra.org — MP4 Registration authority. "Registered types — Codecs, MPEG-4 Registration authority". Retrieved 2009-07-28.
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: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ a b ISO (2000-12-01) ISO/IEC 13818-1 : 2000, Second edition Retrieved on 2009-07-25
- ^ a b dvd.sourceforge.net DVD Resources for Open Source Development, DVD — MPEG differences, Retrieved on 2009-07-28
- ^ "The VC-1 and H.264 Video Compression Standards for Broadband Video", by Jae-Beom Lee and Hari Kalva
- ^ a b SMPTE Registration Authority, LLC — registration authority for MPEG-2 format identifiers Retrieved on 2009-07-06
- ^ a b "MIME Types and File Extensions". XiphWiki. Retrieved 2009-10-24.
- ^ a b "RFC 5334 — Ogg Media Types". IETF. 2008-09. Retrieved 2009-10-24.
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(help) - ^ "Ogg Metadata". Xiph Wiki. 2005-12-20. Retrieved 2007-08-31.
- ^ WebM limits support to VP8 and vorbis. http://www.webmproject.org/about/
- ^ WebM limits support to VP8 and vorbis. http://www.webmproject.org/about/
- ^ WebM is focused on addressing the unique needs of serving video on the web. http://www.webmproject.org/about/
- ^ There is a value in the stream headers, called dwSampleSize, which is 0 in order to trigger VBR stream seeking. This is officially documented in the MSDN and not a hack, bug or whatever. The way MP3-VBR and AAC are stored in AVI are specified and completely compliant with the AVI file specification.
- ^ Possible, but not implemented at this date. The developers are awaiting the release of Musepack 8.x, as this version will completely change the bitstream.
- ^ According to "ETSI TS 102 366 v1.2.1 - Digital Audio Compression (AC-3, Enhanced AC-3) Standard, Annex F"
- ^ Stereo 3D in Matroska can be handled with codecs like MVC. http://www.matroska.org/news/stereo_3d.html
- ^ As specified by SMPTE Recommended Practices 2025–2007, "VC-1 Bitstream Storage in the ISO Base Media File Format."
- ^ http://www.matroska.org/technical/specs/subtitles/images.html