Codec

A codec (coder-decoder) is an algorithm that encodes media into a compact form and decodes it for playback. Examples are H.264, AV1, and VP9 for video, and AAC, MP3, and Opus for audio.

Why it matters

Codecs decide how good media looks and sounds at a given size, how much CPU or battery playback needs, and whether a device can play it at all. Newer codecs usually compress better but need more encoding power and wider support.

A codec is different from a container such as MP4 or MKV, which only holds the encoded streams together.

Example

$ ffprobe -v error -show_entries stream=codec_name -of csv=p=0 movie.mp4
h264
aac

The file contains H.264 video and AAC audio inside an MP4 container.

Common mistakes

• Mixing up codec and container; changing the extension does not change the codec.
• Choosing a new codec without checking device and browser support.
• Re-encoding repeatedly and losing quality each time.

Related

• MP4
• MP3
• Bitrate
• Lossy vs Lossless Compression

यह पेज सामान्य जानकारी है, जिसे हमारी संपादकीय टीम ने लिखा है और दस्तावेज़ीकरण बदलने पर अपडेट किया जाता है। सर्वर और प्रदाता अलग-अलग होते हैं, इसलिए बदलाव पहले सुरक्षित तरीके से जाँचें। देखें: संपादकीय नीति और अस्वीकरण.