Universal Access
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AVI |
MPEG-4 |
MOV |
MKV |
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GENERAL INFO |
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Name |
Audio Video Interleave |
MPEG-4 Part 14 |
QuickTime File Format |
Matroska Multimedia Container |
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File Container |
AVI |
MPEG-4 Part 12 |
QuickTime |
Matroska |
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File Extension |
.avi |
.mp4 |
.mov, .qt |
.mkv |
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Developer |
Microsoft and IBM |
Moving Pictures Experts Group |
Apple, Inc. |
CoreCodec, Inc. |
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Standards |
None |
ISO/IEC 14496-2:2004 |
ISO/IEC 14496-2:2004, as an extension of MPEG-4 |
None |
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS SUSTAINABILITY STANDARDS |
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Disclosure |
Proprietary |
Non-proprietary |
Proprietary |
Non-proprietary |
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Documentation |
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Adoption |
Widely adopted |
Widely adopted |
Widely adopted |
Modestly adopted |
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Impact of patents |
None known to LoC |
Licensed by MPEG LA LLC and Via Licensing Corporation |
Licensed by Apple and limited to Apple software and other technology. |
Open standards for all. Source code licensed under GNU L-GPL. Free parsing and playback libraries under BSD license for adoption. |
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Transparency |
File wrapper is transparent; encoded video bitstreams "require tools and documentation to decode"
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Depends on encoding, but all encoding depend on "algorithms and tools to read and require sophistication to build tools" |
"relatively transparent," all codecs have documentation |
Depends on encoding, but all encoding depend on "algorithms and tools to read and require sipistication to build tools"
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Self-documentation |
Technical info provided in header chunks; descriptive in RIFF chunks |
Object and scene descriptions required |
Technical metadata is in the header for the atoms and in locations in the file |
Technical and descriptive metadata in the wrapper |
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External Dependencies |
None |
Surround sound requires multiple loudspeakers |
None |
Need a DirectShow parser filter for Windows machines. Other non-DirectShow players do not need the parser. |
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Technical protection mechanisms |
None |
Standardized Intellectual Propterty Management and Protection (IPMP) interface |
May require users to enter a media key; files cannot be played on more that three platforms; limited by Apple software |
Encryption is supported |
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OTHER TECHNICAL INFO |
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Popular Codec |
DiVx/XviD |
H.264 |
Apple ProRes 422 (LT) |
FF Video Codec 1 |
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Video coding formats |
Almost anything through Video for Windows (VFW)
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H.264, MPEG-4 Part 2, MPEG-2, MPEG-1
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MPEG-2, MPEG-4 Part 2, H.264, H.263, H.261, Apple ProRes, Apple Pixlet, Cinepak, Component VIdeo, DV, DVC Pro 50, Graphics, Motion JPEG, Photo JPEG, QUickTime Animation, Sorenson VIdeo 2, Sorenson Video 3 |
Any
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Audio coding formats |
Almost anything through Audio Compression Manager (ACM); Vorbis is problematic |
ACC, MP3
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ACC, HE-AAC, Apple Lossless, MP3, AMR, Narrowband, etc.
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Any |
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Audio formats supported |
MP3, WMA, AAC, AC-3, DTS, PCM, LPCM
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MP3, WMA, Opus, AAC, AC-3, DTS, LPCM, ALAC, DTS-HD |
MP3, WMA, Vorbis, AAC, PCM, LPCM, FLAC, ALAC
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MP3, WMA, Vorbis, Opus, AAC, AC-3, DTS, PCM, LPCM, FLAC, ALAC, MLP/Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD
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| Video formats supported
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MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 (A)SP, H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, VC-1/WMV, Real Video, THeora, Microsoft MPEG4 V2, VP8
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MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 (A)SP, H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, H.265/HEVC, VC-1/WMV, Real Video, Theora, Microsoft MPEG4 V2, VP8, VP9, MVC |
MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 (A)SP, H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, H.265/HEVC, VC-1/WMV, Theora |
MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 (A)SP, H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, H.265/HEVC, VC-1/WMV, Real Video, Theora, Microsoft MPEG4 V2, VP8, VP9, MVC |
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Compression |
Lossless |
Lossy |
Lossy |
Both -- Lossless with FFV1 encoding |
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Timecode |
Competing approaches |
Depends on the software |
Supports multiple timecodes, located in the tmcd atom |
Located in the "headers for blocks, blockgroups, and clusters" |
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3D Objects |
Not known |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
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Captions/subtitles |
Yes, via third party mods |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
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Can contains both audio and video data |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
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Capable of running on PC and MAC OS |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
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Metadata
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Extensible Metadata Platform (XMP)
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Various: Object Content Information (OCI), MPEG07 data ( a separate standardized structure for discovery) |
Technical metadata is in the header for the atoms and in locations in the file. |
Various: Technical and descriptive metadata in the wrapper. Descriptive metadata can be embedded in the tagging section. |
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Other noted limitations |
1. No stardardized way to encode aspect ratio; 2. No standardized was to include a time code; 3. Not intended to "contain video using compression technique that requires access to furutre video frame data -- issues with playback software; 4. Cannot contain some types of variable bitrate such as MP3 below 32kHz; 5. 5MD per hour of video; 6. No metadata for "scan type"
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Still evolving |
"QuickTime permits users to make as many timecode tracks as they wish, but experts report that this can inhibit interoperability and some tracks may not be properly read. "
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1. Still evolving; 2. More complicated than AVI; 3. Reputation tainted by online origin |
