A video file format is a type of

file format A file format is a Computer standard, standard way that information is encoded for storage in a computer file. It specifies how bits are used to encode information in a digital storage medium. File formats may be either proprietary format, pr ...

for storing

digital video Digital video is an electronic representation of moving visual images (video) in the form of encoded digital data. This is in contrast to analog video, which represents moving visual images in the form of analog signals. Digital video comprises ...

data on a

computer A computer is a machine that can be Computer programming, programmed to automatically Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (''computation''). Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic set ...

system. Video is almost always stored using lossy compression to reduce the file size. A video file normally consists of a

container A container is any receptacle or enclosure for holding a product used in storage, packaging, and transportation, including shipping. Things kept inside of a container are protected on several sides by being inside of its structure. The term ...

(e.g. in the Matroska format) containing visual (video without audio) data in a video coding format (e.g. VP9) alongside audio data in an audio coding format (e.g. Opus). The container can also contain synchronization information, subtitles, and

metadata Metadata (or metainformation) is "data that provides information about other data", but not the content of the data itself, such as the text of a message or the image itself. There are many distinct types of metadata, including: * Descriptive ...

such as title. A standardized (or in some cases de facto standard) video file type such as .webm is a profile specified by a restriction on which container format and which video and audio compression formats are allowed. The coded video and audio inside a video file container (i.e. not headers, footers, and metadata) is called the

essence Essence () has various meanings and uses for different thinkers and in different contexts. It is used in philosophy and theology as a designation for the property (philosophy), property or set of properties or attributes that make an entity the ...

. A program (or hardware) which can decode compressed video or audio is called a

codec A codec is a computer hardware or software component that encodes or decodes a data stream or signal. ''Codec'' is a portmanteau of coder/decoder. In electronic communications, an endec is a device that acts as both an encoder and a decoder o ...

; playing or encoding a video file will sometimes require the user to install a codec library corresponding to the type of video and audio coding used in the file. Good design normally dictates that a file extension enables the user to derive which program will open the file. That is the case with some video file formats, such as WebM (.webm), Windows Media Video (.wmv), Flash Video (.flv), and Ogg Video (.ogv), each of which can only contain a few well-defined subtypes of video and audio coding formats, making it relatively easy to know which codec will play the file. In contrast to that, some very general-purpose container types like AVI (.avi) and QuickTime (.mov) can contain video and audio in almost any format, and have file extensions named after the container type, making it very hard for the end user to use the file extension to derive which codec or program to use to play the files. The

free software Free software, libre software, libreware sometimes known as freedom-respecting software is computer software distributed open-source license, under terms that allow users to run the software for any purpose as well as to study, change, distribut ...

FFmpeg FFmpeg is a free and open-source software project consisting of a suite of libraries and programs for handling video, audio, and other multimedia files and streams. At its core is the command-line ffmpeg tool itself, designed for processing vide ...

project's libraries have very wide support for encoding and decoding video file formats. For example, Google uses ffmpeg to support a wide range of upload video formats for YouTube. One widely used media player using the ffmpeg libraries is the free software

VLC media player VLC media player (previously the VideoLAN Client) is a free and open-source software, free and open-source, software portability, portable, cross-platform media player software and streaming media Server (computing), server developed by the Vide ...

, which can play most video files that end users will encounter.

List of video file formats

{, class="wikitable sortable" , - ! Name ! File extension(s) ! Container format ! Video coding format(s) ! Audio coding format(s) ! Notes , -- ,

WebM WebM is an audiovisual media file format. It is primarily intended to offer a royalty-free alternative to use in the HTML video and the HTML audio elements. It has a sister project, WebP, for images. The development of the format is sponsored by ...

, .webm , Matroska , VP8, VP9, AV1 , Vorbis, Opus , Royalty-free format created for HTML video. , -- , Matroska , .mkv , Matroska , , , , -- , Flash Video (FLV) , .flv , FLV , VP6, Sorenson Spark, Screen video, Screen video 2, H.264 , MP3,

ADPCM Adaptive differential pulse-code modulation (ADPCM) is a variant of differential pulse-code modulation (DPCM) that varies the size of the quantization step, to allow further reduction of the required data bandwidth for a given signal-to-noise rati ...

, Nellymoser, Speex, AAC , Use of the H.264 and AAC compression formats in the FLV file format has some limitations and authors of Flash Player strongly encourage everyone to embrace the new standard F4V file formatKaourantin.net (31 October 2007) Tinic Ur
New File Extensions and MIME Types
, Retrieved on 2009-08-03 de facto standard for web-based streaming video (over RTMP). , -- , F4V , .flv , MPEG-4 Part 12 , H.264 , MP3, AAC , Replacement for FLV. , -- , Vob , .vob , VOB , H.262/MPEG-2 Part 2 or MPEG-1 Part 2 , PCM, DTS, MPEG-1, Audio Layer II (MP2), or Dolby Digital (AC-3) , Files in VOB format have .vob filename extension and are typically stored in the VIDEO_TS folder at the root of a DVD. The VOB format is based on the

MPEG The Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) is an alliance of working groups established jointly by International Organization for Standardization, ISO and International Electrotechnical Commission, IEC that sets standards for media coding, includ ...

program stream format. , -- , Ogg Video , .ogv, .ogg , Ogg ,

Theora Theora is a free lossy video compression format. It was developed by the Xiph.Org Foundation and distributed without licensing fees alongside their other free and open media projects, including the Vorbis audio format and the Ogg contai ...

, Dirac , Vorbis, FLAC , , -- , Dirac , .drc , , Dirac , , , -- , Video alternative to GIF , .gifv , HTML , , , Not standardized, and not a real video file in the classical meaning since it merely references the real video file (e.g. a .webm file), which has to exist separately elsewhere. A .gifv "file" is simply a HTML webpage which includes a HTML video tag, where the video has no sound. As there were large communities online which create art using the medium of short soundless videos in GIF format, GIFV was created as a functionally similar replacement with vastly smaller filesizes than the inefficient GIF format. , -- , Multiple-image Network Graphics , .mng , , , , Inefficient, not widely used. , -- , AVI , .avi , AVI , , , Uses

RIFF A riff is a short, repeated motif or figure in the melody or accompaniment of a musical composition. Riffs are most often found in rock music, punk, heavy metal music, Latin, funk, and jazz, although classical music is also sometimes based ...

, - , MPEG Transport Stream , .MTS, .M2TS, .TS , AVCHD , AVCHD (MPEG-4 / H.264 ) , Dolby AC-3 or uncompressed linear PCM , The standard video format used by many Sony and Panasonic HD camcorders. It is also used for storing high definition video on Blu-ray discs. , -- , QuickTime File Format , .mov, .qt , QuickTime , many , AAC, MP3, others , , -- , Windows Media Video , .wmv , ASF , Windows Media Video, Windows Media Video Screen, Windows Media Video Image , Windows Media Audio, Sipro ACELP.net , , -- , Raw video format , .yuv , Further documentation needed , Doesn't apply , Doesn't apply , Supports all resolutions, sampling structures, and frame rates , -- ,

RealMedia RealMedia is a proprietary multimedia container format (digital), container format created by RealNetworks with the filename extension . RealMedia is used in conjunction with RealVideo and RealAudio, while also being used for Streaming media, st ...

(RM) , .rm ,

RealVideo RealVideo, also spelled as Real Video, is a suite of proprietary format, proprietary video compression formats developed by RealNetworks — the specific format changes with the version. It was first released in 1997 and was at version 15. RealV ...

, RealAudio , Made for

RealPlayer RealPlayer, formerly RealAudio Player, RealOne Player and RealPlayer G2, is a cross-platform media player (software), media player app, developed by RealNetworks. The media player is compatible with numerous container file formats of the multimed ...

, -- , RealMedia Variable Bitrate (RMVB) , .rmvb , RealMedia Variable Bitrate ,

, RealAudio , Made for

, -- , VivoActive (VIV) , .viv , VIV , based upon H.263 video , G.723 ADPCM audio (not the G.723.1 speech codec) , Made for VivoActive Player , -- , Advanced Systems Format (ASF) , .asf , ASF , , , , -- , AMV video format , .amv , Modified version of AVI , Variant of Motion JPEG , Variant of IMA, ADPCM , Proprietary video file format produced for MP4 players and S1 MP3 players with video playback , -- , MPEG-4 Part 14 (MP4) , .mp4, .m4p (with DRM), .m4v , MPEG-4 Part 12 , H.264, H.265, MPEG-4 Part 2, MPEG-2, MPEG-1 ,

Advanced Audio Coding Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) is an audio coding standard for lossy digital audio compression. It was developed by Dolby, AT&T, Fraunhofer and Sony, originally as part of the MPEG-2 specification but later improved under MPEG-4.ISO (2006ISO/ ...

, MP3, others , , -- , MPEG-1 , .mpg, .mp2, .mpeg, .mpe, .mpv , MPEG-1 part 1 , MPEG-1 part 2 , MPEG-1 Audio Layer I, MPEG-1 Audio Layer III ( MP3) , Old, but very widely used due to installed base. , -- , MPEG-2 – Video , .mpg, .mpeg, .m2v , , H.262 , AAC, MP3, MPEG-2 Part 3, others , , -- , M4V , .m4v , MPEG-4 Part 12 , H.264 , AAC, Dolby Digital , Developed by Apple, used in iTunes. Very similar to MP4 format, but may optionally have DRM. , -- , SVI , .svi , MPEG-4 utilising a special header , , , Samsung video format for portable players , -- , 3GPP , .3gp , MPEG-4 Part 12 , MPEG-4 Part 2, H.263, H.264 , AMR-NB, AMR-WB, AMR-WB+, AAC-LC, HE-AAC v1 or Enhanced aacPlus (HE-AAC v2) , Common video format for

cell phones A mobile phone or cell phone is a portable telephone that allows users to make and receive Telephone call, calls over a radio frequency link while moving within a designated telephone service area, unlike fixed-location phones (landline phone ...

, -- , 3GPP2 , .3g2 , MPEG-4 Part 12 , MPEG-4 Part 2, H.263, H.264 , AMR-NB, AMR-WB, AMR-WB+, AAC-LC, HE-AAC v1 or Enhanced aacPlus (HE-AAC v2), EVRC, SMV or VMR-WB , Common video format for

, -- , Material Exchange Format (MXF) , .mxf , MXF , , , , -- , ROQ , .roq , , , , used by Quake 3 , -- , Nullsoft Streaming Video (NSV) , .nsv , NSV , , {{dunno , For streaming video content over the Internet , - , Flash Video (FLV) , .flv .f4v .f4p .f4a .f4b , Audio, video, text, data , Adobe Flash Platform , SWF, F4V, ISO base media file format , Developed by the Adobe Flash Platform

References

Video Video formats

List of video file formats

See also

References