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Comparison of Container Formats
Do you know the differences between avi and mkv, mp4 and mkv, 3gp and mkv?
The following table compares the features of most of container formats people are using will bring
you all the infomation needed.
In video terminology, container format is a type of file format that contains various types of data
compressed by standardized codecs. Container formats are essentially wrappers in that they don't
specify what codec the container format uses, but rather it defines how the video, audio and
other data is stored within the container. Examples of container formats include IFF,WAV, AVI,
Ogg and 3GP.
Comparison
| Name and file extension, if different |
Standard owner |
Support for B-frames |
Variable bit rate audio |
Variable frame rate |
Chapters |
Subtitles |
Video formats supported |
Audio formats supported |
Metadata/Tags supported |
Supports Menus (like DVD) |
| 3GP |
3GPP |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
? |
3GPP Timed Text |
H.263, MPEG-4 Part 2 and H.264/MPEG-4 AVC |
AMR-NB/WB, AMR-WB+ and (HE)-AAC |
? |
No |
Advanced Systems Format (.asf, .wma,
.wmv) |
Microsoft |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Almost anything through VFW or DMO; H.264/AVC is problematic |
Almost anything through ACM or DMO; Vorbis is problematic |
Yes |
? |
| AVI |
Microsoft |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes, via third party modifications |
Yes, via third party modifications |
Almost anything through VFW; H.264/AVC is problematic due to the limited B-frame support |
Almost anything through ACM; Vorbis is problematic |
not officially |
No |
| DivX Media Format (.divx) |
DivX, Inc. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
MPEG-4 Part 2 video encoded to meet DivX profiles |
MP3, PCM, AC-3 |
? |
Yes |
| EVO |
MPEG |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
MPEG-2 Part 2, H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, VC-1 |
AC-3, E-AC-3, Dolby TrueHD, Linear PCM, DTS, DTS-HD, MPEG-2 Part 3 |
? |
Yes |
| Flash Video (.flv) |
Adobe Systems |
Yes |
? |
Yes |
No |
No |
Sorenson, VP6, Screen Video, H.264/MPEG-4 AVC</ref> |
MP3, Nellymoser, ADPCM, raw PCM, AAC |
Yes |
No |
| Matroska (.mkv, .mka) |
public domain |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
virtually anything |
virtually anything |
Yes |
currently under development by corecodec.org |
| MCF |
BSD-style license for specs, GNU for tools |
? |
? |
? |
? |
? |
Yes |
Yes |
? |
No |
| MP4 |
MPEG |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
1) In specially formatted text track (QuickTime); 2) In userdata atom (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-1, MPEG-2, H.263, MPEG-4 ASP, VC-1/WMV, H.264/MPEG-4 AVC |
MPEG-1 Layers I, II, III (MP3), MPEG-2/4 (HE)-AAC, AC-3, Vorbis (with privat objectTypeIndication), Apple Lossless |
Yes |
Yes |
| MPEG Video File (.mpg, .mpeg) |
MPEG |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
MPEG-1, MPEG-2 |
MPEG-1 Layers I, II, III (mp3), LPCM |
No |
No |
| Program Stream (.ps) |
MPEG |
Yes |
Yes |
? |
Only in VOB files on DVDs |
Only in VOB files on DVDs |
MPEG-1, MPEG-2 |
MPEG-1 Layers I, II, III (mp3), LPCM, DTS |
No |
Only in VOB files on DVDs |
| MPEG-2 TS Transport Stream(.ts) |
MPEG |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
possible via ETSI EN 300 743 |
MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 ASP, H.264, VC-1 |
MPEG-1 Layers I, II, III (mp3), AC-3, LPCM, DTS, AAC |
No |
No |
| NUT |
MPlayer team/NUT Project |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Virtually anything |
Virtually anything |
Yes |
? |
| Ogg/OGM |
Xiph.org |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Ogg Writ, SRT and MicroDVD with OGMtools |
Theora, almost anything through VFW |
Vorbis, almost anything through ACM |
Yes |
No |
| Quicktime(.mov, .qt) |
Apple |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Limited to what is available to the QuickTime codec manager |
Limited to what is available to Sound Manager or CoreAudio |
Yes |
No |
| >RMVB |
RealNetworks |
Yes |
? |
Yes |
? |
Yes |
RealVideo 8, 9, 10 |
(HE)-AAC, Cook Codec, Vorbis, RealAudio Lossless |
? |
No |
| VOB+IFO |
DVD Forum |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
VobSub |
MPEG-2 Part 2 |
AC-3, Linear PCM, DTS, MPEG-2 Part 3,MPEG-1 Layer II |
No |
Yes |
|
Standard owner |
Support for B-frames |
Variable bit rate audio |
Variable frame rate |
Chapters |
Subtitles |
Video formats supported |
Audio formats supported |
Metadata/Tags supported |
Supports Menuing |
Audio formats supported
|
Lossy compression |
Lossless compression |
| MP3 |
WMA |
RealAudio |
Vorbis |
Musepack |
AAC |
AC3 |
DTS |
APE |
FLAC |
ALAC |
SHN |
WavPack |
MLP / Dolby TrueHD |
DTS-HD |
| QuickTime |
Yes |
Yes |
? |
Yes |
? |
Yes |
Yes |
? |
? |
Yes |
Yes |
? |
? |
No |
No |
| AVI |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
| Matroska |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Scheduled |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
? |
Yes |
? |
? |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| MP4 |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
? |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Video formats supported
|
MPEG-1 |
MPEG-2 |
MPEG-4 (A)SP |
H.264 |
VC-1/WMV |
RealVideo |
Theora |
| QuickTime |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
? |
Yes |
| AVI |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Problematic, limited B-frame support |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
| OGM |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
? |
Yes |
| Matroska |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| MP4 |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
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