View source for Codec

''See Also the [http://www.videolan.org/doc/vlc-user-guide/en/ch02.html#id291422 Official documentation: list of modules]''

{{wikipedia|List of codecs}}
{{mmwiki|<!--
-->Video codecs|Category:Video_Codecs|<!--
-->Audio codecs|Category:Audio_Codecs|<!--
-->Containers|Category:Container_Formats<!--
-->}}

A part of the program which understands a type of video or audio (short for '''Co'''der/'''Dec'''oder or '''Co'''mpression/'''Dec'''ompression). DivX and Theora are examples of video codecs; MP3 and Vorbis are audio codecs. The output stream produced when a codec to audio or video is generally "muxed" into a container format, such as AVI or Ogg. As certain codecs are often associated with certain container formats, the name of the container is often used to imply the codec, such as "Ogg", which usually refers to a Vorbis stream in an Ogg container.

To know what codecs are readable with {{VLC}}, ''see [[VLC Features Formats]]''.

For [http://discerning.com/topics/audiovideo/video_encoding.html portability to almost all decoders], we recommend
using the [[MPEG-1]] standard of <code>'''vcodec'''='''mp1v'''</code>, <code>'''acodec'''='''mpga'''</code>, and <code>'''mux'''='''mpeg1'''</code>.  See the [[MPEG]] Wiki page for more details on the other MPEG standards.

To save a file in a different codec, you can use the [[Documentation:Streaming_HowTo_New#Streaming_using_the_GUI|streaming wizard]] or [[transcode]] from the [[command prompt]] with a command like this:

<code>vlc file --sout='#transcode{'''vcodec'''='''''mp1v''''', '''vb'''='''''1024''''', '''acodec'''='''''mpga''''', '''ab'''='''''128'''''}:std{access=file, '''mux'''='''''mpeg1''''', '''dst'''='''''C:\file_name.mpg'''''}'</code>

==Video Codecs==
Use the "name" part in your <code>vcodec=...</code> commands

{|
| '''''name'''''
| ''description''
|-
| '''mp1v'''
| [[MPEG-1]] Video - recommended for portability
|-
| '''mp2v'''
| [[MPEG-2]] Video - used in DVDs
|-
| '''mp4v'''
| [[MPEG-4]] Video
|-
| '''SVQ1'''
| [[Sorenson Video]] v1
|-
| '''SVQ3'''
| Sorenson Video v3
|-
| '''DVDv'''
| [[MPEG-2|VOB]] Video - used in DVDs
|-
| '''WMV1'''
| [[Windows Media Video]] v1
|-
| '''WMV2'''
| Windows Media Video v2
|-
| WMV3
| Windows Media Video v3, also called Windows Media 9 ([[Common_Problems#WMV_files|unsupported]])
|-
| '''DVSD'''
| [[Digital Video]]
|-
| '''MJPG'''
| [[MJPEG]]
|-
| '''H263'''
| [[H263]]
|-
| '''h264'''
| [[H264]]
|-
| '''theo'''
| [[Theora]]
|-
| '''IV20'''
| [[Indeo Video]]
|-
| IV40
| Indeo Video version 4 or later ([[Common_Problems#Problems_playing_types_of_files|unsupported]])
|-
| '''RV10'''
| [[Real Media Video]]
|-
| '''cvid'''
| [[Cinepak]]
|-
| '''VP31'''
| [[On2 VP]]
|-
| '''FLV1'''
| [[Flash Video]]
|-
| '''CYUV'''
| [[Creative YUV]]
|-
| '''HFYU'''
| [[Huffman YUV]]
|-
| '''MSVC'''
| [[Microsoft]] Video v1
|-
| '''MRLE'''
| Microsoft [[RLE]] Video
|-
| '''AASC'''
| [[Autodesc]] RLE Video
|-
| '''FLIC'''
| [[FLIC]] video
|-
| '''QPEG'''
| [[QPEG]] Video
|-
| '''VP8'''
| [[VP8]] Video
|}

==Audio Codecs==
Use the "name" part in your <code>acodec=...</code> commands

{|
| '''''name'''''
| ''description''
|-
| '''mpga'''
| [[MPEG audio]] (recommended for portability)
|-
| '''mp3'''
| [[MP3 audio|MPEG Layer 3 audio]]<!-- - see also [[How To/Create an MP3]] -->
|- 
| '''mp4a'''
| [[MP4 audio]]
|-
| '''a52'''
| [[Dolby Digital]] ([[A52]] or [[AC3]])
|-
| '''vorb'''
| [[Vorbis]]
|-
| '''spx'''
| [[Speex]]
|-
| '''flac''' or '''fl32'''
| [[FLAC]]
|}
===No-"name" Codecs===

* [[DTS]]
* [[AAC (Advanced Audio Coding)]]
* [[Windows Media Audio]]
* [[DV Audio]]
* [[LPCM]]
* [[ADPCM]]
* [[AMR]]
* [[QuickTime Audio]]
* [[RealAudio]]
* [[MACE]]
* [[MusePack]]

==Subtitle Codecs==

See [[SubtitlesCodec|Subtitles Codec]] for more information.

{|
|-
| '''CVD'''
| [[CVD|CVD Subtitles]]
|-
| '''SVCD (Overlay Graphics)'''
| [http://www.vcdimager.org/pub/vcdimager/manuals/0.7/svcd-ogt-subtitles.html SVCD Subtitle (OGT) Information]
|-
| '''SRT'''
| [[SubRip|Subrip Subtitles]]
|-
| '''SSA/ASS'''
| [[SSA|Sub Station Alpha or Advanced Sub Station Subtitles]]
|-
| '''SubViewer'''
| [[Subviewer|SubViewer Subtitles]]
|-
| '''VobSub'''
| [[VobSub|VobSub Subtitles]]
|-
| '''DVD subtitles'''
| [[DVD Subtitles]]
|-
| '''DVB subtitles'''
| [[DVB Subtitles]]
|-
| '''VPlayer'''
| [[Vplayer Subtitles]]
|-
| '''MicroDVD'''
| [[MicroDVD Subtitles]]
|-
| '''Sami'''
| [[Sami Subtitles]]

|}

== Muxers ==
Use the "name" part in your <code>mux=...</code> commands

{|
| '''''name'''''
| ''description''
|-
| '''mpeg1'''
| [[MPEG-1]] multiplexing - recommended for portability.  Only works with mp1v video and mpga audio, but works on all known players
|-
| '''ts'''
| [[MPEG-TS|MPEG Transport Stream]], primarily used for streaming MPEG.  Also used in DVDs
|-
| '''ps'''
| [[MPEG-PS|MPEG Program Stream]], primarily used for saving MPEG data to disk.
|-
| '''mp4'''
| [[MPEG-4|MPEG-4 mux format]], used only for MPEG-4 video and MPEG audio.
|-
| '''avi'''
| [[AVI]]
|-
| '''asf'''
| [[ASF]]
|-
| '''dummy'''
| [[dummy]] output, can be used in creation of [[MP3]] files.
|-
| '''ogg'''
| [http://www.xiph.org/ Xiph.org's] [[ogg]] container format.  Can contain audio, video, and metadata.
|}

== See Also ==
* [[FourCC]] and http://www.fourcc.org/
* http://discerning.com/topics/audiovideo/video_encoding.html

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