Video Formats & Codecs

J

Jamaine

Active member
What's the difference between a video format & codec, for example in PP you could export something using .mov format with h.264 codec, you could also export something using a H.264 format? Just trying to get some clarification so I could understand these things better.
 
A format is something which allows it to be read by a player. A codec is the exact formula/method used to compress the video into a smaller file.
 
"More simpler"? That is a double superlative. MORE SIMPLE or SIMPLER is fine. But not MORE SIMPLER. If your sentence were a codec it could not be read by Premiere. :)
 
A simple analogy is something like this. Imagine taking a mjpeg file and an mp3 file and compressing them into a zip file. The Zip file is the format(container), mjpeg is the "video" codec, and mp3 is the "audio" codec. The terms Format and Container are interchangeable, the correct term is actually container format, but that doesn't matter.

It's a bit more complex then that, but that is how you can think of it.

MXF, AVI, MKV, MOV, MP4, MPEG2 are common container formats.

h.262, h.264, prores, mjpeg, dv/hdv, AVC Intra, are common video codecs

PCM, WAV, mp3, ogg, AAC, FLAC, are common audio codecs

You can sometimes also add other things into the containers, like multiple video tracks, audio tracks, and subtitles.
 
That could not have been more difficulter than for I asked... me by you for clear understand not me you. :)
 
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