VIDEO FORMAT
A video format describes how one device sends video pictures to another device, such as the way that a DVD player sends pictures to a television, or a computer to a monitor. More formally, the video format describes the sequence and structure of frames that create the moving video image.
Video formats are commonly known in the domain of commercial broadcast and consumer devices; most notably to date, these are the analog video formats of NTSC, PAL, and SECAM. However, video formats also describe the digital equivalents of the commercial formats, the aging custom military uses of analog video (such as RS-170 and RS-343), the increasingly important video formats used with computers, and even such offbeat formats such as color field sequential.
Video formats were originally designed for display devices such as a CRTs. However, because other kinds of displays have common source material and because video formats enjoy wide adoption and have convenient organization, video formats are a common means to describe the structure of displayed visual information for a variety of graphical output devices.
Analog video formats
* NTSC
* PAL
* SECAM
Digital Video Formats
These are MPEG2 based terrestrial broadcast video formats
* ATSC
* DVB
* ISDB
SOME VIDEO EXTENSION
.3g2 3GPP2 Multimedia File
.3gp 3GPP Multimedia File
.3gp2 3GPP Multimedia File
.3gpp 3GPP Multimedia File
.3mm 3D Movie Maker Movie
.60d CCTV Video Clip
.aep After Effects Project
.ajp CCTV Video File
.amv Anime Music Video File
.asf Advanced Systems Format File
.asx Microsoft ASF Redirector File
.avb Avid Bin File
.avi Audio Video Interleave File
.avs Application Visualization System Format
.bik BINK Video File
.bix Kodicom Video File
.box Kodicom Video
.byu Brigham Young University Movie
.cvc cVideo
.d2v DVD2AVI File
.dce DriveCam Video
.dif Digital Interface Format
.dir Adobe Director Movie
.divx DivX-Encoded Movie
.dv Digital Video File
.dvr-ms Microsoft Digital Video Recording
.dxr Protected Macromedia Director Movie
.eye Eyemail Video Recording
.fcp Final Cut Project
.flc FLIC Animation
.fli FLIC Animation
.flv Flash Video File
.flx FLIC Animation
.gl GRASP Animation
.grasp GRASP Animation
.gvi Google Video File
.gvp Google Video Pointer
.ifo DVD-Video Disc Information File
.imovie project iMovie Project
.ivf Indeo Video Format File
.ivs Internet Streaming Video
.izz Isadora Media Control Project
.izzy Isadora Project
.lsf Streaming Media Format
.lsx Streaming Media Shortcut
.m1v MPEG-1 Video File
.m2v MPEG-2 Video
.m4e MPEG-4 Video File
.m4u MPEG-4 Playlist
.m4v iTunes Video File
.mjp MJPEG Video File
.mkv Matroska Audio/Video File
.moov Apple QuickTime Movie
.mov Apple QuickTime Movie
.movie QuickTime Movie File
.mp4 MPEG-4 Video File
.mpe MPEG Movie File
.mpeg MPEG Video File
.mpg MPEG Video File
.mpv2 MPEG-2 Video Stream
.msh Visual Communicator Project File
.mswmm Windows Movie Maker Project
.mvb Multimedia Viewer Book Source File
.mvc Movie Collector Catalog
.nvc NeroVision Express Project File
.ogm Ogg Media File
.omf Open Media Framework
.prproj Premiere Pro Project
.prx Windows Media Profile
.qt Apple QuickTime Movie
.qtch QuickTime Cache File
.rm Real Media File
.rmvb RealVideo Variable Bit Rate File
.rp RealPix Clip
.rts RealPlayer Streaming Media
.rts QuickTime Real-Time Streaming Format
.sbk SWiSH Project Backup File
.scm ScreenCam Screen Recording
.smil Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language
.smv VideoLink Mail Video
.spl FutureSplash Animation
.srt Subtitle File
.ssm Standard Streaming Metafile
.svi Samsung Video File
.swf Macromedia Flash Movie
.swi SWiSH Project File
.tivo TiVo Video File
.ts Video Transport Stream File
.vdo VDOLive Media File
.vf Vegas Movie Studio Project File
.vfw Video for Windows
.vid Generic Video File
.viewlet Qarbon Viewlet
.viv VivoActive Video File
.vivo VivoActive Video File
.vob DVD Video Object
.vro DVD Video Recording Format
.wcp WinDVD Creator Project File
.wm Windows Media File
.wmd Windows Media Download Package
.wmv Windows Media Video File
.wmx Windows Media Redirector
.wvx Windows Media Video Redirector
.yuv YUV Video File
Open File Formats
* wav - standard audio file format used mainly in Windows PCs. Commonly used for storing uncompressed (PCM), CD-quality sound files, which means that they can be large in size - around 10MB per minute of music. It is less well known that wave files can also be encoded with a variety of codecs to reduce the file size (for example the GSM or mp3 codecs). Wav files use a RIFF structure.
* ogg - a free, open source container format supporting a variety of codecs, the most popular of which is the audio codec Vorbis. Vorbis offers better compression than MP3 but is less popular.
* flac - a lossless compression codec. You can think of lossless compression as like zip but for audio. If you compress a PCM file to flac and then restore it again it will be a perfect copy of the original. (All the other codecs discussed here are lossy which means a small part of the quality is lost). The cost of this losslessness is that the compression ratio is not good. Flac is recommended for archiving PCM files where quality is important (eg. broadcast or music use).
* aiff - the standard audio file format used by Apple. It is like a wav file for the Mac.
* raw - a raw file can contain audio in any codec but is usually used with PCM audio data. It is rarely used except for technical tests.
* au - the standard audio file format used by Sun, Unix and Java. The audio in au files can be PCM or compressed with the μ-law, a-μlaw or G729 codecs.
Open File Formats
* mp3 - the MPEG Layer-3 format is the most popular format for downloading and storing music. By eliminating portions of the audio file that are essentially inaudible, mp3 files are compressed to roughly one-tenth the size of an equivalent PCM file while maintaining good audio quality. The mp3 format is recommended for music storage. It is not that good for voice storage.
* gsm - designed for telphony use in Europe, gsm is a very practical format for telephone quality voice. It makes a good compromise between file size and quality. Note that wav files can also be encoded with the gsm codec.
* dct - A variable codec format designed for dictation. It has dictation header information and can be encrypted (often required by medical confidentiality laws).
* vox - the vox format most commonly uses the Dialogic ADPCM (Adaptive Differential Pulse Code Modulation) codec. Similar to other ADPCM formats, it compresses to 4-bits. Vox format files are similar to wave files except that the vox files contain no information about the file itself so the codec sample rate and number of channels must first be specified in order to play a vox file.
* aac - the Advanced Audio Coding format is based on the MPEG2 and MPEG4 standards. aac files are usually ADTS or ADIF containers.
* mp4/m4a - MPEG-4 audio most often AAC but sometimes MP2/MP3
Proprietary Formats
* wma - the popular Windows Media Audio format owned by Microsoft. Designed with Digital Rights Management (DRM) abilities for copy protection.
* atrac (.wav) - the older style Sony ATRAC format. It always has a .wav file extension. To open these files simply install the ATRAC3 drivers.
* ra - a Real Audio format designed for streaming audio over the Internet. The .ra format allows files to be stored in a self-contained fashion on a computer, with all of the audio data contained inside the file itself.
* ram - a text file that contains a link to the Internet address where the Real Audio file is stored. The .ram file contains no audio data itself.
* dss - Digital Speech Standard files are an Olympus proprietary format. It is a fairly old and poor codec. Prefer gsm or mp3 where the recorder allows. It allows additional data to be held in the file header.
* msv - a Sony proprietary format for Memory Stick compressed voice files.
* dvf - a Sony proprietary format for compressed voice files; commonly used by Sony dictation recorders.
* m4p - A proprietary version of AAC in MP4 with Digital Rights Management developed by Apple for use in music downloaded from their iTunes Music Store.