audio and video file formats: An Introduction

FILE FORMATS

There are different audio formats in use. There are fewer video file formats, but audio video file extensions can be confusing. This is only a brief description of what the most common audio file formats and video systems.

AAC: Advanced Audio Coding This is the audio format used by Apple's iTunes Music Store, and may appear as the m4a file extension. And 'better-quality MP3 audio. E 'was developedas part of the MPEG4 Dolby (see below) belongs.

AU: The format of the audio file is the Unix standard Java, and Sun.

MPEG: Moving Pictures Expert Group There are a number of types of MPEG-time as described below.

MPEG 1: This clip is used in digital cameras and camcorders for small video. VHS-quality playback of MPEG-1 expected.

DVD to MPEG-2 digital TV via satellite, professional filming and recording at homeRecordings. Represents the provision for multi-channel surround sound recording.

MPEG MPEG-3-3 was proposed as a unit, but probably merged into MPEG-2.

MPEG-4: This is the latest MPEG system and is used for streaming Internet content. It 'also used in portable video recorder and Internet downloads. Mandatory for DivX. Improves digital transmission and interactive graphics and multimedia.

MP3 digital audio files, usually used to store andPlaying music. It compresses files to about 10% of a normal audio file and a trace of normal music in 5 -6 MB will be great. MP3 stands for MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3, MPEG-3 does not think so many people. A typical MP3 audio files to CD quality is near.

OGG: a sound file format supports a wide variety of codecs, the most popular of which is the audio codec Vorbis. However, MP3 files are supported much wider than Vorbis.

RA: Real Audio format is forStreaming audio on the Internet. It is an independent file format with all the information in the audio file itself is stored.

WAV: The simplest of audio file formats developed by Microsoft and IBM and 95 built into Windows. This is an uncompressed audio format with large file sizes (10 x MP3), needs no further elaboration and play. The WAV file consists of three pieces of information: The RIFF block that identifies the file as a WAV file, the block sizeidentifies parameters such as sample rate and the amount of data that contains the actual data or sample of music.

WMA: Windows Media Audio A digital system invented by Microsoft and is in portable digital audio players. With WMA, a file so that it can not be copied to the program and can be used to protect copyrights.

WMF: Windows Media Format These are the video-audio and video codec WMA. They offer high quality and safety for the mediaStreaming and download-and-play applications on computers.

WMV: Windows Media Video is used in Windows Media Player, which is used for electricity and to download and play audio and video content.

When it comes to audio and video file formats, they are sometimes the term "codec". A codec is simply short for encoder-decoder (or compressor - decompressor). An essential function of a codec to compress the audio or video stream, so that the transmission of digital audio samplesand video frames can be accelerated and reduced storage space.

The aim of all the codecs the file size is minimized while the audio and video quality. An early indication of the place so codecs in the transmission and reception is:

video device (eg camcorder) - video capture card - digital video - Codec (compressed digital info) - result (MPEG2, AVI, WMV, etc) - Codec (unzip) - video frames - display.

Between the two codecscompressed result is transferred to the display device, a file, stored, transmitted, etc.). So to sum up the river even more, you could basically describe it as:

The raw data - Codec - transfer - Codec - Play

This is simple, but shows where the codec used. Then, a video, film or piece of music can play a particular format, you need a codec on your computer to unzip the file and play it.

Here are some free software that controls what codeca video system used, and what codec your system need to play it:

Codec Tool.

The various video file formats are required to meet the needs of various video equipment. Similarly, audio formats are introduced to meet the needs of specific methods and delivery of equipment for storage and playback from large companies like Microsoft, Sony and Apple. Sun invented Sony introduced the UMD (Universal Media Disc) for PSP (PlayStation Portable) and AppleAAC (M4A) to your iPod.