Motion-JPEG: it is an adaptive JPEG compression way used for static photos in videos. MJPEG encodes each frame at the best speed by varying JPEG and it does not deal with relations between similar frames. Hence it has the superiority that enables people to get access to each frame with no construction of the past and the future frames. In this way, it is still okay to use this codec, such as on portable cameras, as long as the straightforward editing is suitable.

MPEG-1: it’s a codec used in MPEG-1 media files, which is more suitable to be said as a group of codecs. Since the format and the codec of MPEG-1 are mostly inseparable, it is justified to interchange them. MPEG-1 is based on the idea as Cinepak as well as the concept of motion estimation, which means that it is able for each tiny blocks to move around between consistent frames. People can describe or predict so-called P-frames by relating to some of the past frame at a position with a limited range of movement. People can also predict by using both the preceding and the future frames, which makes the file size far smaller than Cinepak.

MPEG-2: actually, MPEG-2 differs little from MPEG-1. There are only some small improvements. However, with MPEG-1 was almost equal to VHS video, MPEG-2 mainly made for high-qualified digital video (How to: MPG to MOV for Mac). In this way, MPEG-2 possesses higher video resolutions and higher bitrates, and it needs permission for commercial applications.

MPEG-4: you may ask why there is MPEG-4 before the presence of MPEG-3. Actually, there was no MPEG-3.at all. The MPEG gives number to its products without any rules, such as the creation of MPEG-7 comes after MPEG-4. Anyhow, MPEG-4 is rather a specification for kinds of codecs than a codec, which means that different supported MPEG-4 codecs are able to be used. It leads to an advantage that as long as a codec is supported MPEG-4, it can be used with any supported MPEG-4 player theoretically. For standard MPEG-4, it contains various parts and its part 2 makes a description of the first MPEG-4 video codec and leads to name “the MPEG-4 codec”. Although MPEG-1 and MPEG-4 share the same basis (How to convert MPEG4 to MOV for Mac), MPEG-4 performs better in compression with its high-level features. Let’s take an example. It no longer simply makes a connection between image parts and different positions as in the before frames. It model and encode small differences between different parts only if they are not too large. In this way, it makes it possible for much more effective color-modeling, huge changes and small differences between frames. At the same time, it also permits people to predict a frame from different related frames rather than from only one. It was Microsoft that firstly made a so-called MPEG-4 codec, however, it made non-standard.

H.264: it is a codec which shares the same developer with MPEG-4 and hence it can also be included in the standard in which actually only its part10 can be called the standard. It has achieved its goal to give excellent performance in whatever bitrate situation. An in-loop deblocking filter and a much larger flexibility supply features to enable it to achieve it. Up until now, it can be defined as the best performing codecs. However, the best performing ability is achieved at the cost of enhanced processing power requirements. At the same time, it still requires license for commercial applications even if it’s a standardized codec. People wrongly take for granted that there is an x264 codec for the open-source library named x264(as an implementation of the H.264 codec) is popularly used.

See more articles: Converting WMV to MP4 in Mac OS X

Where It Excels

VLC supplies a high speed of playing video and it plays almost all video files, which deserves you to pay attention to. All you need to do is only play it in VLC when you try to play a video. What’s more, it can also play several files at the same time. All you need to do is to make sure the image is brightening, crop it, or do anything to adjust your computer. VLC is complex to handle and nearly none can do well on video playback.

Where It Falls Short

Of course, we definitely cannot say that VLC is perfect. Although it offers good video playback features, its other features are still complex. What’s more, its streaming media is not so new for users as well as conversion feature like MTS to MOV. If you want to know more about its high-level features, take time to check on the instruction book. Even if it is a superb video player, you still have to be prepared for small problems somewhere.

The Competition

For VLC, plenty of competitions are waiting for it and many have already excelled it. However, when dealing with video playback, there is still none can compete with VLC. We are happy to use other things except VLC. However, it proves that they still have to do a lot to replace the king title for VLC.

MPlayerX, as the major competition for VLC for a long time, is a great video player. The facts that it sometimes becomes very slow and it does not support several videos synchronously become its major weakness, and you have to convert them firstly by using third-party software like MPG to MOV Converter for Mac. As similar to Quicktime Player, it owns a great interface for easily use, it would still got some problems in video playing.

Movist, just like a great combination of VLC and MPlayerX, is a great choice for users. However, it cannot excel in speed than others in practice. We are hoping for its improvement and someday it will win as the king.

At last, as for the simplest combination for use, Perian and Quicktime Player is the choice. As Quicktime Player is great and simple, Perian offers backup for a lot of media files. For The Perian’s weakness, it’s mainly for its buffer before its play for the file. In contrast, you can just play anything you want in VLC. Anyway, when you are looking for a larger format and you are fond of Quicktime Player, just choose this way.

More related article: How to Convert WMV to MOV for Mac OS X

Rip DVDs

Formally speaking, this is a gray space, remember it. Ripped business DVDs trap their copy-protection systems which leads to the result that people doubt its legality, even when you just rip it for another form to watch since you own the DVD. Since you choose to dive in, take the risks.

Check more about how to convert DVD to AVI for Mac OS X.

Version 0.9.0 HandBrake may be a good way to deal with it. It supports PowerPC and Intel Macs, but the latter is restricted to run OS X 10.5. Of course, you can also use the previous version only if it can work with 10.4, even if there will be some different features.

Why handbrake becomes the favorite choice? Because of its simplicity, no matter in usage and installation, at the same time it supplies numbers of options for the best choice. If there is something wrong, the app will do everything for you and makes the best choice for you without paying you any spirit. In this way, many people enjoy using it with another app, such as VLC, to make the latter do the ripping and cracking job while the Handbrake do the encoding job. It is fast to process and it can make speed up the multi-core processors. It is totally an open source and what’s more important is that it’s totally free.

You may have noticed that AppGeeker becomes more and more close to Windows and OS X friendly and the Blu-ray ripper which is supported by them only becomes better and better and moves forward the best. Cross-platform support is within our acceptation, but the app has developed to even break the copy protection on updated DVDs and Blu-ray discs. Therefore, I advise you to ensure doing your own job. Since it is a shareware, you can use its most features for free, which include decrypting and ripping DVD to MP4 on Mac. Some of you may use others to compress and authorize, while some may protect that AppGeeker has cheap storage and easy rips. It is free for you to download since it is a shareware while you still have to pay $35 or so for you to use some additional features.

Convert hard-drive videos

Absolutely, there is not only DVD for videos. There may be lots of video files in your hard drive for you to set within your iPhone. By using Movie To Apple TV, Movie To iPhone, or Movie To iPod you can output the file opened in QuickTime to create a video which can be played on all. However, Apple doesn’t own a batch-encoding feature, it’s transformation doesn’t sustain all files, and you cannot change its settings. In contrast, Techspansion’s $23 VisualHub 1.34, that is version 1.1.7, is more flexible. It supports plenty of choices for encoding files like vob to mov quicktime, such as the Apple TV, iPhone, and iPod.

.MOV, .AVI and .WMV are media files and actually they are container files. The ‘format’ you are talking about is actually the container format. A container file tells us the organization of its inside data streams is without say anything about the representation of it. In this way, the codecs are responsible for representing the actual data. They make descriptions of the compression and decompression of video and audio data. Although it is right for you to use any codec inside any container format in theory, certain codecs are actually only allowed to be used in certain formats. Take the Sorenson codec WMV video for example, they are only used in QuickTime files and Windows Media files respectively, check more about how to convert WMV to MOV by using professional wmv converter on Windows and Mac OS X.

Because of the lack of the basic knowledge to distinguish formats from codecs, many people take for granted that all QuickTime files use the notorious Sorenson codec and they are eyesore for playing. Or, in their opinions, since AVI use the DIVX codec, they will always be in good quality.
However, none is ‘ideal’ format for all. It is easier to use some formats on certain platforms, while it’s nearly impossible for some others to use. The best way for you to deal with the insertion into website problem is to make the users be able to make a choice among different formats.

Making container formats confused by codecs is the most common mistake people often make. Although many people are in hatred of QuickTime, the fact is that they’re in hatred of the Sorenson codec, for which they don’t even know what it is. Since AVI is in good quality, some other people consider it as a great format, but I can show you an AVI which will make you throw up. While others want to know the reason for AVI or MOV plays well on their computers while other formats show no image or sound.

A container file is downloaded when you download a movie. As you can see from the name, as a file, it contains some other things. You can find nothing from the instruction book for MOV or AVI files about the way to store, compress and decompress real videos and audio data (MOV to AVI for Mac). What they do is only to provide data streams with a wrapper. Talking about a ‘format’ is actually talking about a container file’s structure. There it is nonsense for one to say that “the AVI format has a good video compression”, since it has nothing to do with the process of compression.

Internal structure of container file

A container file is often structured by one or more data streams. For the most common files, they have both a video and an audio stream. However, there can be random kinds of streams in more advanced formats, such as in QuickTime. Any designed container for streaming, no matter it is from a sequential medium like DVD or from the internet, is able to interleave the streams massively, which guarantees the data which is supposed to be together temporally. Take audio chunks for example, they, for which can as well as be read from nearly the same position inside the file, belong with certain video frames. As mentioned before, the format instruction book says nothing about what’s in the streams themselves where the codecs effect, but how they are contained in the file.

More: How to convert VOB to AVI format

However, besides Sorenson, MOV supports a number of other codecs, which goes the same for AVI and DIVX. It is able for you to use a WMV stream in an AVI or MOV file, as you can use a Sorenson stream in a WMV file in theory. In practical, the potential lack of format’s support for the codec’s high-level capabilities. Actually MOV files support DivX video streams and can convert mov to avi for Mac. It is common for a MOV to have an MP3 audio track. But you are not given the chance to use this codec for audio by the standard QuickTime software. And even if the DivX and MP3 codec are not allowed to use according to the initial AVI statement, people in millions use AVI files with these codecs.

It is good as well as bad for the tendency to hard-link a format with a kind of codec or kinds of codecs. On the one hand, it is good for that you can know immediately what codec such a file uses. On the other hand, it is bad for that you may be restrained by that codec. The both good and bad thing is ok for the average users while frustrating for those professional users. As QuickTime permit use of any codec, it becomes a popular format for video-editing. Different kind of codecs can be sustained in a MOV.

A list of popular video codecs and the formats

WMV: it is a codec with the Windows Media format which you can see from its name. Never ask me how it works. Since it came into being a short time after non-standard MPEG-4 of Microsoft, I they might be created out of the same theory. With the development of technology, it has been updated. At the same time, MS has the absolute control over this format, which becomes the major reason why it is pushing it. DRM, whose official name is Digital Rights Management and whose common name is Digital Restrictions Management is featured by this kind of specialty.

See more: How to convert WMV to MOV format

DivX: DivX 3, as the first version of DivX, was actually only a pirated version of the MS MPEG-4 codec. Since most movies have the ability to suit with one CDR in an okay image quality, the increase of pirated movies has been started, which is why the the AVI format was hijacked. Audio is the other hacked codec, no matter it is MP3 or WMA. For playing, WMV was used in some early pirated AVI movies （mp4 to avi Mac OS X). In order to improve it to be legal, the developers of DivX updated the codec by making a version 4. More and more advanced versions appears and the ‘pirated’ AVI format has been renamed as DIVX by DivX, which is started from version 6.

XviD: As you can see, it is the vice versa of DivX, which was created as a clone of the DivX 3 codec. Since the DivX 4 codec, it developed by itself and their video streams are almost compatible since both are belong to MPEG-4. However, with the updating of its versions, the XviD codec do as well as the DivX codec or even better than it.

What Is a Codec?

When the video you see is compressed, it means that it has been done to occupy less space than before in your computer. Let’s take an example to explain it. It is hard for a normal person to download or store a regular Blu-Ray disc in his hard drive for it usually occupies about 30 or 50GB of space. Therefore, even if there will be loss in the quality of the video, we condense videos to make them more administrable.

Codecs are often used to condense data or reduce the pressure of it. People use it to recognize the video file and decide how to play it in your computer. Although you can set codec packs(which is preferred by most people), VLC or PotPlayer for more support, your computer  usually pre-installs many codecs.

What Is a Container?

Basically speaking, a container is a plenty of files. A container can contains lot of things, such as a video codec, an audio codec, subtitles and so on. You are allowed to chose codec respectively for your video and audio. In this way, it is nice because you have the choice to use the high-qualified DTS audio and to condense it to something like MP3 in order to keep more space savings. The only restriction it gives you is on your recording your videos and ripping them.

So Which Should You Use?

Do there any differences between all these video formats? I wonder which one I should choose? Nowadays, when you go through the websites for videos, you can only find a few kinds of codecs and containers. For standard-definition videos, such as ripped DVDs, it is popular to use DivX and XviD (DivX’s open source counterpart, see: Rip DVD to AVI Mac OS X). However, most of them are out of date, therefore I won’t use them to rip my own DVDs. As our favorite DVD ripper and video encoder, Handbrake is able to both stand by three video codecs which you can find under the “Video” tab and two containers which you can find under “Output Settings”. As a software acquiescent by Handbrake, H.264 is able to produce you the highest quality. If the quality is not in your consideration, MPEG-4 will make compression quicker. Although both MKV and MP4 can support high-quality H.264 videos, people prefer MKV because it is open source, it contains a few more extra specialties, and stands by higher qualified audio. On the other side, it has the weakness that it cannot be sustained by some programs and devices. Therefore, you’ll need to suit for more widely sustained MP4 when you’re setting these videos in your iPad, Apple TV, or Xbox 360. So MKV is your choice when you’re watching them through VLC, PotPlayer, XBMC, or other video players that sustain MKV.

In spite of a wide range of information of videos, what you really need to do is to concentrate yourself on a few since plenty of those codecs are out of date. Wikipedia will give you more information about detailed comparison of Video Codecs, Container Formats, and more information on all the different types of video compression done by MPEG standards.

More Reading: How to convert MOV to MP4 Format on Mac

1. DVD Shrink

As one of the most popular free DVD rippers, DVD Shrink back up DVD discs effectively. Not only does it has a smooth interface with a special ability to compress 8GB dual-layer DVDs to 4GB sizes, but also its compression features are best used with more shrinking volume and other features, such as re-authoring. By taking advantage of its user friendly interface, DVD shrink makes your DVD ripping a piece of cake !

Pros: smooth and user-friendly interface; capability to re-encode and abandon needless content; great condense ability

Cons: has not been renewed since its application and might not be able to decode some DVDs with updated copy-protection

2. AppGeeker DVD Ripper (30-day free trial)

As a great multithreaded DVD ripping tool, AppGeeker DVD Ripper also can be achieve the task easily. You can complete your ripping task in a while since its profiles have been set in advance. It can support ripping DVD files to common file format like DVD to MP4 Mac, DVD to AVI, DVD to MKV,  DVD to AVI, etc. and other more. At the same time, it is quick and direct. It’s an ideal tool to use since it suit with the basic DVD ripping requirements. It works well on Windows and Mac OS X.

3. HandBreak

For transcoded video, Handbreak supplies a high quality as an open source software. Although it is small in size, it has plenty of specialties which can enhance synchronization and it produce high qualified video.

Pros: high qualified video output; small in size; support multi-platform

Cons: slow transcoding speed; unable to rip protected DVDs when there is no other software, only output MP4 and MKV file format

OS: Windows XP, WindowsVista, Windows7

4. Format Factory 

With an amazing interface, Format Factory is a multipurpose transverter. Video, audio, images and all forms of media are supported by it. It enables you to change some output settings by adding watermarks, subtitles and a lot of other options. In this way, it is agile and customizable.

Pros: supports all video file formats and other media files; multi-choices for customers

Cons: too many burdensome ads on interface, no Mac version

OS: All Windows operating systems

More reading: How to convert and Rip DVD on Mac and Windows

I’d like to describe the AVI format as DV-AVI format. It’s official name is IEC 61834. Nearly all new tape driven Digital Camcorders use it. A file size of around 13 Gigabytes per hour results from the 25.146 Mbit per second’s compression rate. In this way, it produces high qualified standard definition television signal.

Check more about: How to rip DVD to AVI format on Mac

It is common to use Mpeg2 format for a host of different devices, such as DVD’s, HDD Camcorders, over the air and satellite TV signals. In a lot of places, people say it is “a standard for the generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information”. What I’m going to talk about is some detailed information.

Why apple do not accept the avi and mkv files

In common use, the AVI file container is supported/accepted by QuickTime (QT Player natively supports MPEG, Motion JPEG, MP4, MOV, etc video formats). What remains problemating is the data in the file container. Neither accepting AVI files nor those containing unexpected combinations audio and video data, QuickTime apps, such as iMovie, QuickTime X, and iTunes, have been updated. But MKV would be restricted by the same codec component. In my opinion, only if the file type can be recognized/supported, it would be nice even if specific data compression formats are not natively supported by the basic OS codec component configuration. Like the iPod, iPhone, iPad, and TV, iTunes has, more or less, become a management and streaming vehicle for mobile devices and whose native support are only a very few specific dodes like MOV, (Click the link to learn how to convert avi to mov for Mac). However, our people seem to forget it. As the QT 7 based apps still continue to enjoy relatively open codec support for a dwindling number of legacy and third-party components, you can use it to play your AVI and/or MKV files.

iTunes accept mp3 support , why they don’t accept avi

Firstly, as both a file container and a compression format, mp3 outpaces AVI as only a file container. What’s more, as some legacy AVI compression formats have never been trancoded for use on the Mac and never outpace OS 9, they died with the demise of the PowerPC CPU the introduction of Lion/Mountain Lion. In contrast, as long as QT supports “muxed” MPEG-1 audio and video, MPEG-1 layered audio content supports playback. The legacy codec components are no longer available for the Mac or supported by their originators. By not trying to make its media players compatible with legacy file types and legacy codec components, Apple claims he is modernizing. Taking Microsoft for example, more than ten years ago, it gave up active support with the introduction of WMV media just because numerous file type limitations have happened in the original AVI specification and it introduced the AVI container in November of 1992 as part of its “Video for Windows Technology”.

Video Converter – How to convert AVI to MP4 on Mac OS X

However, there is no use if the subtitles and multiple track support to whom doesn’t know a foreign language. Because the idea of converting every single video to MP4 (such as mov to .mp4 file)  is completely not included in my “perfect weekend” scene and just leave me flatly aghast. But now, we have many third-party video players which contains paid and free. Some of them are really bang-up and others are belong to a “must forget” group. I would like to find out which are free ones that would be worth installing on our Apple gadgets.

At last, I would like to chose 5 video players mentioned below for a program quality test:

Flex:player

The player is developed by Persona Software and so is LLC. It is able to compate with iPhone and iPod Touch. It also can support many formats files, such as AVI, MPEG, VOB, MKV, MP4, MOV, FLV and so on. But WMV and my video files are not included in the list. I am so upset that the WMV format is very popular among Windows users. Many people think that flex player work well for audio and video playback. It also can be recommended for everyday use especially in entertainment purposes.

Oplayer Lite

In my opinion, the best video player for iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch is made by Jonathan Young. In fact, the applicationg showed that it worked well for both audio and video playback for all the files. Oplayer Lite can play a lot of movie and audio file formats, such as AVI, WMV, MKV, FLV, MPG, MP4, Webm, VOB, MP3, WMA, WAV, OGG, FLAC, and so on. Subtitles support is free for hard and prerendered subs in SMI, ASS, SUB, SRT, TXT and many other formats. You can easily change your audio with no pauses thanks to a multiple audio track support. Maybe, you will feel diffcult at the beginning. But I am sure that you will make it clear after some minutes you try. Much more, you can easily restore the media what you like for the Oplayer has a built-in browser with download feature.

HD Player

HD Player is an application for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch users that created by Khoa Tran Anh. However, it also has disadvantages. It promised to provide many good playback quality. But test results showed that it only play free in native iPad formats, AVI, and MPG (files in mpg to mov?). So, you should pay $1.99 if you want to watch MKV, FLV, WMV movies. Personally, I don’t think it is a good idea. And my files always keep freezing up whenever I try to jump forward or backward.

viPlay Lite

It is my favourite applications nowdays and it is created by Oleksandr Smeshkov viPlay. It is really wonderful both at the look and use with live backgroundes, variety of styles and visual effects. It can support a lot of video formats, such as AVI, MKV, MP4, MOV, MPG, WMV, VOB, 3GP, FLV, OGG, Webm and so forth. I prefer to work by using the application. It is so easy for me to play prerendered subtitles and various audio tracks that I can change between on the fly. The key problem is that lite version allows you to watch only 3 first files from your media library. So, you should be already to spend $2.99 for it if you want to keep all the episodes of your favourite series. Of course, you can find another program instead. Personally, I prefer to put my money in Mr Smeshkov’s piggy bank and that will be easy.

VM Player Lite

Recently, I find a good product of Velestar Private Enterprise – VM player Lite which can support both popular and rare audio and video formats, such as AVI, MKV, MOV, MP4, FLV, VOB, MPG, WMV, Webm, ANM, SOX, WTV, TMV ; MP3, ACC, WMA, AC3, WAV, OGG, FLAC, ALS, WS, SIPR, IMC etc. VM Player with a good quality of video&audio playback but it also has a problem with keeping on distracting my attention and driving me rather bonkers.

And you will find out many problems about size and duration limitations that wouldn’t allow you to watch your MKV file. However, the interface looks quite comprehensible and austere. You can easily download your e-mail attachments without a media player.