The most widely used H.264 codecs today include the Apple codec, which is used in Apple Compressor and QuickTime Pro, the MainConcept codec, which has been licensed by Adobe, Microsoft, Rhozet, Sorenson Media and Telestream for their encoding products, and the x264 codec, a free software library used in most shareware encoders, and by many UGC vendors to create custom high-volume H.264 encoding systems. The Nuts and BoltsĪs a standard-based codec, H.264 has been implemented by multiple vendors, and each version delivers different levels of quality and configurability. Most of the time, but not all the time, H.264 video is encoded with audio compressed with the AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) codec, which is an ISO/IEC standard (MPEG4 Part 3). MP4 extension, as well as QuickTime (.MOV), Flash (.F4V), 3GP for mobile phones (.3GP), and the MPEG transport stream (.ts). Thus, the terms H.264 and AVC mean the same thing and are interchangeable.Īs a video codec, H.264 can be incorporated into multiple container formats, and is frequently produced in the MPEG-4 container format, which uses the. H.264 is a video compression technology, or codec, that was jointly developed by the International Telecommunications Union (as H.264) and International Organization for Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commission Moving Picture Experts Group (as MPEG-4 Part 10, Advanced Video Coding, or AVC). This article discusses H.264 and competitive technologies from these perspectives. Other factors to consider include comparative quality against other available technologies, like Google’s WebM, as well as the general availability of decoding capabilities on target platforms and devices.
However, many uses of H.264 are subject to royalties, something that should be considered prior to its adaption. H.264 is the most widely used codec on the planet, with significant penetration in optical disc, broadcast, and streaming video markets.
This is an installment in our ongoing series of " What Is.?" articles, designed to offer definitions, history, and context around significant terms and issues in the online video industry.
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