Comparison of container formats

Comparison of container formats

This table compares features of container formats (video file 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 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 Attachment Support 3D Support (codec) 3D Support at container level 3GP 3GPP H.263, MPEG-4 Part ? Yes Yes ? 3GPP Timed Text 2 and H.264/MPEG-4 AVC AMR-NB, AMR-WB, AMR-WB+, AAC, HE-AAC and HE-AAC v2 3G2 3GPP2 AMR-NB, AMR-WB, AAC, H.263, MPEG-4 Part ? Yes Yes ? 3GPP Timed Text 2 and H.264/MPEG-4 AVC HE-AAC, EVRC, EVRC-B, EVRC-WB, 13K(QCELP), SMV or VMR-WB Advanced Systems Format (.asf, .wma, .wmv) AVI Microsoft ? Yes, via third Yes Yes Microsoft Proprietary, patent encumbered Yes Yes Yes Yes DMO; H.264/AVC is problematic DMO; Vorbis is problematic Almost anything through VFW or Almost anything through ACM or Yes No Yes ? ? ? Yes ? No ? ? ? ? ? ? No ? ? ? ? ? Supported by hardware players

[1]

[2]

Yes

[3]

Yes, via third party party modifications modifications

Almost anything through VFW

Almost anything through ACM; Vorbis is problematic

through No RIFF chunks No No ? No Yes

[4]

DivX Media

DivX, Inc.

? MPEG-4 Part 2 video Yes Yes Yes Yes encoded to meet DivX profiles MP3, PCM, AC-3 ? Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes

Format (.divx) EVO MPEG Patent MPEG-2 Part 2, encumbered Yes Yes Yes Yes H.264/MPEG-4 PCM, DTS, DTS-HD, AVC, VC-1 MPEG-2 Part 3 F4V (Flash Video) Adobe Systems Patent encumbered ? Yes ? ? H.264/MPEG-4 AVC TrueHD, Linear ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? AC-3, E-AC-3, Dolby

MP3, AAC, HE-AAC

[]

Yes

No

Yes

FLV (Flash Video)

Adobe Systems

Patent encumbered ? Yes No No

Sorenson, VP6, Screen Video, H.264/MPEG-4 AVC

MP3, Nellymoser, ADPCM, Linear PCM, AAC, Speex

[5][6]

[7] []

Yes

No

Yes

Comparison of container formats

Matroska (.mkv, .mk3d, .mka, .mks) MCF

CoreCodec, Inc.

[8]

Freely licensed

[9]
Yes

under

[10]

Yes

[10]

Yes

[11]

Yes

[12]

Virtually anything

Virtually anything

Yes

[13]

development by CoreCodec

[14]

Yes

[15]

Yes

[16]

Yes

[17]

Yes

[17]

Yes

[18]

BSD-style Community

[19]

license for Yes specs, GNU for tools Yes Yes

[20]

Yes

[20]

Not fully specified

Not fully specified

Yes

Possible

[21]

Yes

[22]

Yes

[20]

No

MP4

MPEG

Patent encumbered

1) In specially formatted text track (QuickTime); 2) In userdata atom Yes Yes (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-2Part2, MPEG-4ASP, MPEG-2/4 (HE)-AAC, MPEG-1/2 Layers I, II, III (MP3), AC-3, Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes

H.264/MPEG-4AVC, Apple Lossless, ALS, H.263, VC-1, Dirac, others

[]

SLS, Vorbis(with private objectTypeIndication), others

[]

MPEG Video File (.mpg, .mpeg)

MPEG

Patent encumbered Yes Yes No No MPEG-1, MPEG-2

MPEG-1 Layers I, II, III (mp3), other

[23]

formats only in private streams: LPCM

No

No

Yes

Yes

[24]

MPEG program stream PS (.m2p, .ps)

MPEG

Patent encumbered Only in private Only in private streams used Yes ? in VOB files on VOB files on DVDs DVDs streams used in MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 Part 2,

MPEG-1 Layers I, II, III (mp3), other formats only in private streams: AAC, AC-3, LPCM, DTS No in VOB files on DVDs Only in private streams used ? ? ? ? Yes

H.264

[23] VC-1, [25]

[24]

MPEG transport stream TS (.ts)

MPEG

Patent encumbered possible via ETSI Yes Yes No EN 300 743

MPEG-1, MPEG-2

MPEG-1 Layers I, II,

Part 2, MPEG-4 ASP, III (mp3), AAC, other H.264, other formats in private streams: VC-1, Dirac formats in private streams: AC-3, LPCM, DTS No No Yes ? ? ? Yes

[26]

[26]

BDAV MPEG-2 transport stream

Blu-ray Disc Association

Proprietary AC-3, DTS, LPCM, MPEG-2 Part 2, Yes Yes Yes Yes H.264, VC-1 DTS HD, Dolby Lossless Dolby Digital Plus, ? ? ? ? Yes ? Yes

[27]

(.m2ts) MXF Ogg SMPTE Xiph.org ? Patent-free, Free software implementations available Yes Yes Yes Ogg Writ, Ogg Kate Yes Yes ? Yes Virtually anything Virtually anything Yes No ? ? ? ? No

Theora, Dirac, OggUVS, MNG and others,

Vorbis, FLAC, Speex, Opus, OggPCM,

CMML, Ogg Skeleton, Vorbis comment No Yes ? ? ? Yes

[][]

and

[][]

and

almost anything else via VFW

almost anything else via ACM Limited to what is available to Sound

[]

QuickTime (.mov, .qt)

Apple

Proprietary Yes Yes Yes Yes

Limited to what is available to the QuickTime codec manager

Yes Manager or CoreAudio

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Comparison of container formats

3
(HE)-AAC, Cook

RMVB

RealNetworks

Proprietary ? Yes ? Yes RealVideo 8, 9, 10

Codec, Vorbis, RealAudio Lossless

No

Yes

VOB+IFO

DVD Forum

Proprietary MPEG-2 Part 2, Yes Yes Yes Yes MPEG-1 Part 2

AC-3, Linear PCM, DTS, MPEG-2 Part 3, MPEG-1 Layer II No Yes No No No No Yes

WebM

WebM Project

perpetual license grant to patents Yes Yes No

No, but support for embedding WebVTT is under consideration VP8

[29]

Vorbis

No

No

Yes

[30]

No

No

Yes

Yes

[31]

[28]
Video formats supported Audio formats supported Metadata / Tags supported Menu Support (like DVD) Streaming Attachment Support Support 3D Support (codec) 3D Support at container level Supported by hardware players

Proprietor / Developer

License

Variable bit rate audio

Variable frame rate

Chapters

Captions (Subtitles)

Formats supported
Audio formats supported
Lossy compression No compression Lossless compression

MP3 WMA RealAudio

Vorbis

Opus Musepack AAC AC-3 DTS PCM LPCM APE FLAC ALAC WavPack

MLP / DTS-HD Dolby TrueHD No No Yes No Yes No No ? Yes No Yes No

QuickTime Yes AVI Yes Matroska MP4 Yes MXF Ogg Yes Yes Yes

Yes Yes Yes Yes No No

No Yes [32]

Yes not officially Yes not officially ? Yes

? ? Yes ? ? Yes

No No [34]

Yes Yes [33] Yes Yes Yes No

Yes Yes Yes Yes [35] Yes No

? Yes Yes Yes Yes No

Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes

Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes

No No Yes No No No

Yes No Yes No No Yes

Yes No Yes Yes No No

? No Yes No No No

Yes No No No

No

? ? No

Video formats supported

Comparison of container formats

MPEG-1 MPEG-2

MPEG-4 (A)SP Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

H.264/MPEG-4 AVC Yes Yes [36]

VC-1/WMV RealVideo Theora

Microsoft MPEG4 V2 ? Yes ? Yes ? ?

VP8

MVC

QuickTime AVI Ogg Matroska MP4 MXF

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Yes Yes Yes Yes [38] Yes Yes

? Yes ? Yes No No

Yes Yes Yes Yes No ?

? Yes ?

? ? ?

Yes Yes Yes Yes

Yes Yes[37] ? ? Yes ?

Caption (Subtitle) formats supported

QuickTime AQTitle JACOSub [39] ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? AVI No No No No No No No No No No ? ? Yes, via third party modifications No Yes, via third party modifications ? No ? via DivX OGM Matroska MP4 MXF ? ? No ? ? Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes [40] ? ? ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

MicroDVD MPEG-4 Timed Text MPSub Ogg Kate Ogg Writ Phoenix Subtitle PowerDivX RealText [41]

? ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? Yes ? Yes Yes [42]

SAMI Structured Subtitle Format SubRip Gloss Subtitle (Advanced) SubStation Alpha SubViewer Universal Subtitle Format VobSub XSUB

Comparison of container formats

Notes and references

[1] The ability to hold additional files such as fonts for subtitles etc. [2] 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. [3] 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. [4] 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. [5] 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 (http:/ / www. adobe. com/ aboutadobe/ pressroom/ pressreleases/ 200712/ 120407adobemoviestar. html) [6] H.264/MPEG-4 AVC What just happened to video on the web? (http:/ / www. kaourantin. net/ 2007/ 08/ what-just-happened-to-video-on-web_20. html) [7] AAC support is available in Adobe Flash Player 9 Update 3 (version 9.0.115.0 from December 2007) press release (http:/ / www. adobe. com/ aboutadobe/ pressroom/ pressreleases/ 200712/ 120407adobemoviestar. html) [8] 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. [9] 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 [10] Matroska is designed to store VBR and VFR content. http:/ / www. matroska. org/ technical/ guides/ faq/ index. html [11] Matroska supports simple chapters and nested chapters. http:/ / www. matroska. org/ technical/ specs/ chapters/ index. html [12] Matroska subtitle specification. http:/ / www. matroska. org/ technical/ specs/ subtitles/ index. html [13] The tagging system of Matroska http:/ / www. matroska. org/ technical/ specs/ tagging/ index. html [14] Matroska Menu Specifications (http:/ / www. matroska. org/ technical/ menu/ index. html) [15] Matroska can be streamed over HTTP and RTP/RTSP, through it is not meant to be streamed over RTP, as the two have duplicate features. Matroska live streams are different from the files and some features of the file format are not supported in live streams. http:/ / www. matroska. org/ technical/ streaming/ index. html [16] Matroska can store any type of file. http:/ / www. matroska. org/ technical/ specs/ index. html#Attachment [17] Matroska 3D (http:/ / www. matroska. org/ news/ stereo_3d. html) Specification (http:/ / www. matroska. org/ technical/ specs/ index. html#StereoMode) [18] Companies producing Matroska-supporting hardware include Asus ( ASUS Digital Media Player (http:/ / www. asus. com/ ProductGroup2. aspx?PG_ID=deBXUzMkKnQuGLGK)), OPPO Digital ( Oppodigital.com (http:/ / www. oppodigital. com/ blu-ray-bdp-83/ ) OPPO BDP-83 Blue-ray Disc Player), Panasonic ( Gizmodo.com (http:/ / gizmodo. com/ 5120212/ samsungs-2009-hdtv-lineup-leaked), Samsung's 2009 HDTV Lineup Leaked), and LG ( Asia.cnet.com (http:/ / asia. cnet. com/ how-to-select/ tvs/ lg/ ) How to select the right LG HDTV) [19] http:/ / mcf. sourceforge. net/ [20] MCF Specifications (http:/ / mukoli. free. fr/ mcf/ mcf. html) [21] Menu is possible (http:/ / mukoli. free. fr/ mcf/ index. html), but not specified yet [22] Streaming for MCF (http:/ / mukoli. free. fr/ mcf/ stream. html) [23] ISO (2000-12-01) ISO/IEC 13818-1 : 2000, Second edition (http:/ / neuron2. net/ library/ mpeg2/ iso13818-1. pdf) Retrieved on 2009-07-25 [24] DVD Resources for Open Source Development, DVD MPEG differences (http:/ / dvd. sourceforge. net/ dvdinfo/ dvdmpeg. html), Retrieved on 2009-07-28 [26] SMPTE Registration Authority, LLC registration authority for MPEG-2 format identifiers (http:/ / smpte-ra. org/ mpegreg/ mpeg. html) Retrieved on 2009-07-06 [27] M2ts#Software support [28] Specification (http:/ / code. google. com/ p/ webm/ issues/ detail?id=11#c6) for embedding WebVTT in a WebM container is in the works. [29] WebM limits support to VP8 and vorbis (http:/ / www. webmproject. org/ about/ ). [30] WebM is focused on addressing the unique needs of serving video on the web (http:/ / www. webmproject. org/ about/ ). [31] Rockchip demonstrated full WebM hardware playback (http:/ / blog. webmproject. org/ 2011/ 01/ availability-of-webm-vp8-video-hardware. html). [32] Older types of RealAudio (including ATRAC3)use constant bitrate compression, and therefore are fully compatible with the ancient ACM interface. Newest type of RealAudio is actually AAC, which never has been a problem to the DirectShow-based decoders. [33] 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. [34] The Matroska developers were awaiting the release of Musepack 8.x, as this version would completely change the bitstream, however Musepack 8 still is unsuitable for any sanely designed container. [35] According to "ETSI TS 102 366 v1.2.1 - Digital Audio Compression (AC-3, Enhanced AC-3) Standard, Annex F"

Comparison of container formats

[36] [37] [38] [39] [40] [41] [42] Again, B-frames in an AVI file are a problem only for the ancient Video-for-Windows API, not for the AVI container itself. 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 20252007, "VC-1 Bitstream Storage in the ISO Base Media File Format." http:/ / unicorn. us. com/ jacosub/ jscripts. html https:/ / www. bunkus. org/ videotools/ mkvtoolnix/ doc/ mkvmerge. html#mkvmerge. subtitles http:/ / service. real. com/ help/ library/ guides/ realtext/ realtext. htm The requirement for muxing VobSub into matroska is v7 subtitles (http:/ / www. matroska. org/ technical/ specs/ subtitles/ images. html).

Article Sources and Contributors

Article Sources and Contributors

Comparison of container formats Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=567535322 Contributors: Aldnonymous, Alexander No, AlistairMcMillan, Anomie, Arabani, ArchMageZeratuL, Batjohan, Becksguy, Ben Ben, Berrinam, Bgwhite, Biasoli, Blackboxxx, Blaisorblade, Brother-John, CPES, Cantonesejim, Caravena, Ceyockey, Chris the speller, ChristianHJW, Claunia, Cm224, Cory Kohn, Crashmatrix, Crosstimer, CyberSkull, Daniel.Cardenas, Defragged, Dobie80, DonDiego, Donhalcon, Dooly00000, DrSeehas, EdC, Eraser, Ermey, Fcjohn, Gamester17, Gerbrant, Giandrea, Gudeldar, Haakoo, HairyWombat, Hanjifi, Hdante, Hhielscher, HiEv, Huwr, Hymek, Idleloop, Indolering, Infinitelink, Inwind, J. M., JLaTondre, Jamesmcmahon0, Jason Quinn, Jhartmann, Jnoring, Jth299, KamasamaK, Kappa, KeyJ, Keyser Sze, Kimsey0, Kjoonlee, Kl4m-AWB, Knneth, Lee Carre, Leolaursen, LilHelpa, Lmatt, Lnatan25, Logixoul, Madmaxx, Manabu, Mblumber, Metalim, MichaelStanford, Mikus, Misteror, MrTroy, NicusorCheles, ONEder Boy, Paul1337, Phil412, Pmsyyz, Qutezuce, R'n'B, RandomWalker, Regression Tester, Reisio, RenamedUser01302013, Richard Sotke, Rufus210, Sbo, Someoneinmyheadbutit'snotme, Soulsbane, SquidInc, Squids and Chips, Ssfreitas, Starcheerspeaksnewslostwars, Stefanor, Steppres, Stibbons31, Strz4life, Suoerh2, Tawal, Techtoucian, Tentacle Monster, Ttam, Tweenk, Vadmium, Vegaswikian, Warren, Woohookitty, Xpclient, Yourmanstan, Zephyrxero, 263 anonymous edits

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