- AVI is probably the most common video container you will encounter. A container is a file that can store different types of video and audio inside it.
It was developed by Microsoft, who encourage use of the less-popular ASF instead of it.
It will usually contain MPEG-4 video and MP3 audio.
Many extensions to AVI (such as supporting MP3 audio, or multiple audio tracks) will confuse older players, which may cause out-of-sync audio or no audio.
- OGM is the Ogg Movie file. It has less out-of-sync problems than AVI and cleanly supports subtitles and multiple audio tracks. It will usually contain MPEG-4 video and Ogg Vorbis audio.
- MOV is the QuickTime movie. This format is extremely flexible and supports nearly everything, up to embedded Flash movies, interactive menus, and variable-frame-rate video. Very old MOV files will likely contain Cinepak video and uncompressed audio; new ones will likely contain Sorenson 3 or MPEG-4 video and QDesign or AAC audio.
- MPG or VOB is the MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Program Stream. An MPEG-1 stream contains MPEG-1 video and audio, and may have more than one audio track (although not all players will recognize more than one audio track). An MPEG-2 stream will have MPEG-2 video and either DTS, AC-3, uncompressed, or MP2 audio, and may have subtitles. MPEG-2 streams are found on DVDs. M2T or TS are similar, and usually contain HDTV streams.
- MP4 is the MPEG-4 Program Stream. This format is based on MOV, and will usually contain MPEG-4 video and AAC audio. It may also contain MPEG-1 or MPEG-2, or MP3 audio.
- MKV is a newer and less common file format, the Matroska movie. It is designed to be nearly as flexible as MOV is, and will likely contain MPEG-4 video and AAC or Ogg Vorbis audio.
For more, see http://adtrw.org/faq.php.
- RM is the RealMedia movie, and contains proprietary video and audio.
Playing video on Windows
DefilerPak is the only SH/SC approved codec pack. Installing it will allow you to play most of the formats listed above. You may want RealPlayer and QuickTime to play RM and MOV/MP4 files. If their advertising annoys you, Media Player Classic can play their files using Real Alternative and QuickTime Alternative. You can also install 3ivx for Windows, which will allow other Windows players to use some MOV and MP4 files.
If none of these work, try the VLC player, which includes its own video decoders.
Playing video on Mac OS X
VLC and MPlayerOSX are the most common players. If they are too slow, or you want to use the video in a QuickTime program (such as iTunes), here is a list of QuickTime plugins:
- 3ivx MPEG-4 Decoder replaces the default Apple MPEG-4 decoder, and is faster and produces higher quality video. It does not completely support some of the more esoteric XviD options.
- DivX for OS X replaces the default AVI reader, and allows more AVI files to play.
- http://qtcomponents.sourceforge.net/ has a plugin for Ogg Vorbis audio, although it does not support OGM.
- http://www.insaneness.com/ has a plugin that allows QuickTime to play AC-3 audio.
- This is a plugin for MS MPEG-4v1 aka MP41.
- This is a plugin for MS MPEG-4v2 aka MP42.
- This is a plugin for WMA Standard audio (OS 9 only); an OS X alternative is DivXWMAConverter.
- This directory? contains a plugin for Intel Indeo video (also OS 9 only). Indeo will soon be supported in MPlayer/VLC.
- This is a beta FLAC plugin.
Apple also sells an MPEG-2 plugin.
If you want to use QuickTime but don't like QuickTime Player or want to use SRT/SSA subtitles, Cellulo supports them and has various other capabilities.
RealPlayer for OS X will play RM files, and unlike the Windows version contains no advertising.
Windows Media Player 9 will play WMV and ASF files, but is very slow.
Playing video on Linux
VLC and Mplayer are the most common Linux players, and will play almost everything you will encounter.
Links
- VLC Media Player is cross-platform and plays most video formats.
- MPlayer works on Linux and OS X, and works better than VLC in some circumstances.
- MPlayerOSX provides an easier-to-use GUI application around MPlayer.