Computer movie files/Container
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[edit] AVI
Full name: Audio Video Interleave. This is probably the most common container format out there, which is due to the fact it can be played in almost every media player and on every operating system / platform. It was created back in 1992 by Microsoft.
AVI is often seen as the 'baseline' of video containers, because it supports the least number of features and is the oldest and most common. Some people still prefer this container over others, this guy points out that AVI supports many of the features that newer containers (like MKV and MP4) do, however this support is usually non-standard or bad. Despite this, if you don't actually need any of the features that the more advanced containers support, AVI might be all you need.
Verdict: Fine (sort of, you should still prefer Matroska) if all you want to store is xvid+mp3, but anything else requires a better container.
[edit] FLV
Full name: Flash Video. A legacy container used by Adobe Flash. Almost always holds MP3 audio and either h263/h263+ or VP6 video, it can probably hold other formats but there is little reason to do so. Now mostly supplanted by MP4 (or at least it should be...).
[edit] OGM
Full name: Ogg Media. Originally developed as a means to use the (then) new Vorbis audio codec with your typical MPEG-4 ASP video formats. Considered by many a "hack" of the Ogg container to fit in such video formats. The format became extremely popular for a short time as it allowed chapters, multiple audio streams, and softsubs to be added in the container. Development on the OGM "standard" slowed and it was eventually adopted by the Xiph Project. Was assumed that this format would die a quiet death in the corner after Matroska came out, but with HTML5's <video> element and some browsers supporting Theora-in-OGM, it may be on the verge of rebirth.
Verdict: If you're using HTML5's <video> with Theora files this is what you should use. Otherwise, try Matroska.
[edit] MKV
Full name: Matroska Video. Probably the best container for computer playback, you can do almost anything with it. It allows the use of all video formats with ease, uses any audio or subtitle format you want and provides advanced features such as vfr encoding, chapters, and softsubs.
The homepage is matroska.org, but it doesn't really contain that much information useful to a precious newbie like yourself.
Verdict: The most versatile container around. It's lovely!
[edit] MP4
Full name: MPEG-4 File Format. The first version was finalised in 1998 and standardised in early 1999. It was the first MP4 file format developed by MPEG and primarily designed for web video and portable hardware (such as mobile phones). Version 1 was superseded by Version 2 shortly after, at the end of 1999 (standardised in 2000) and is fully backward compatible. Since then, MP4 has been extended, and constantly developed.
In addition to supporting the latest MPEG standards, it is also backward compatible with older standards. In MP4 you can contain:
- MPEG-1
- MPEG-2
- h263 (and extensions) (via .3gp which is a simplified MPEG-4 V1)
- MPEG-4 ASP and MPEG-4 AVC (CCITT H.264) video
On the audio side you can store
- MPEG-1/2 Layer 1,2 & 3
- AAC
- AMR (via .3gp)
- CELP & TwinVQ (for low bitrate/speech)
- SAOL (MIDI)
- ALAC (Apple Lossless)
- ALS (MPEG4 standardised lossless format)
It also has its own softsub format, 3GP timed text. Last but not least, MP4 support JPEG & PNG image formats.
MP4 also has a user data atom where you can store meta info about the stream, album art etc. Through the use of private streams, you could also mux Vorbis, AC3 or DVD Subpictures. This is not standard and players aren't required to support it. If you want such features, this is the time to use MKV. MP4 also supports menus (there are working players and examples to test).
Bond has a very informative MP4 faq posted at doom9.
Verdict: Doesn't support as many formats as MKV, but it supports all the common, popular formats and ISO standards helping to ensure interoperability. MP4 has more "out of the box" support than MKV, this is reflected in commercial software and hardware players, but obviously audio/video decoder support is another matter. If you want native MPEG-4 ASP or H.264 video with MP3 or AAC audio, or you just want to transmux a .ts or .mpg file, MP4 offers just that. If you want softsubs and vorbis, use MKV.
[edit] MOV
Full name: Quicktime Movie Format. This format is a proprietary format from Apple. Supports a lot of the stuff that mp4 does, however those are considered unofficial hackish use and will not play in its native player.
Verdict: Do not use this for anything other than ipod files.
