Codecs

This page was designed to help answer two frequently asked questions: 1) What is a codec? and 2) How do I know what codec to use?. When dealing with multimedia, especially digital video and digital audio, the choice of a codec is extremely important. Question #1 is easy to answer. A codec is a compression/decompression program that translates between video and audio data from its compressed form to its uncompressed form. A codec helps to decrease the size of a file because it matches like information with like information. Examples of frequently used codecs are Cinepak, Video, MPGEG, & Quicktime. Most codecs come with software used to work with multimedia like Adobe Premiere or Adobe Photoshop. (To learn more about multimedia terms, check out my glossary.) Question #2 requires a bit more detail. The following tables, I hope, will help people decide upon a codec.

Codec Best used for ... Accessibility My opinion/experience

      Cinepak
CD-Rom videos &
Web video
Included in QuickTime &
with other software packages
Good codec to use, but you won't get broadcast quality video.
Best if running at 15 fps. Leave a lot of time for compressing files.Strong data matching,
Decent image quality,
Plays on both Mac & PC platforms
Sorenson Web video Included with Quicktime 3.0 when saving files in MoviePlayer Excellent choice. High quality compression with low cost for the basic version. The professional version costs more, but is still a good choice. Will decode the video stream with out the edforahigh-nd decoder.
Indeo 3.2 compressing interview (talking head) video Free from Intel Faster compression than Cinepak, but not good for Web video
Video inital capturing codec & for testing edits
Included in QuickTime &
with other software packages
 Cinepak is still a better codec choice, typically this is not good for Web video
Component Video video capture
Included in QuickTime &
with other software packages
 This gives a good caputure frame rate, but the files are large
MPEG CD-Rom video editing
PowerPC decoder from Apple
 Requires hardware playback which most maching don't have

QuickTime is another codec widely used. QuickTime is free (download QuickTime) and has an ease of use. The QuickTime plug-in is included with Netscape Navigator 3.0+. Quicktime is a "progressive download" program that allows for fast starts. You can view QuickTime movies on Mac, PC & Unix platforms. A negative side-effect of QuickTime is that the image quality isn't great especially over networks.

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Update 19May 98, esp