Playback software: (Windows Media Player, Divx Player 2.0 Alpha, QuickTime Player, Realone, etc. )

Microsoft has been around since WIN3. 1 Its most direct advantages are good compatibility, convenient call and good picture quality, so it is often said to DVD. But its disadvantage is also obvious: large volume. Because of this, we have seen the birth of other video compression formats. The resolution of AVI can be adjusted at will. The larger the window, the larger the data volume of the file. Reducing the resolution can greatly reduce its size, but the image quality is inevitably damaged. When the file size is similar to MPEG-2 format, the video quality of AVI format is relatively poor, but the requirements for computer configuration are not high. People usually record videos in AVI format first, and then convert them into other formats.

2.MPEG format (Moving Picture Expert Group)

Playing software: (Most playing software can see this file format, such as Hero Super Jieba, Windows Media Player, Realone, Oriental Film Capital, kingplayer, etc. ).

This format is a big one in the video camp, and it is also the most common video format we usually see. There are many derived formats, including video files with suffixes of mpg, mpe, mpa, m 15, m 1v, mp2, etc. , all from this family. MPEG format includes three parts: MPEG video, MPEG audio and MPEG system (video and audio synchronization). MP3(MPEG-3) audio file is a typical application of MPEG audio. Video includes MPEG- 1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4.

MPEG- 1 and MPEG-2 have their own special resolution standards when they are made into VCD and DVD respectively. The resolution of MPEG- 1 compressed image of VCD in NTSC format is 352×240, and that in PAL format is 352×288. When DVD is in NTSC format, the resolution of MPEG-2 compressed image is 352× 288. If you plan to make CDs for DVD/VCD players, you need to pay special attention to the formats used by various video recorders when making video files.

MPEG- 1

Playback software: (Hero Super Xieba, Windows Media Player)

It is widely used to make VCDs and download some video clips, the most of which is VCDs-almost all VCDs are compressed in Mpge- 1 format (the file is *. Dat format). The compression algorithm of MPEG- 1 can compress a movie (original video file) with the length of 120 minutes to the size of 1.2 GB.

MPEG-2

Playback software: (WindVD, PowerdVD, Windows Media Player 8 or above, Oriental Cinema, Hero DVD)

It is widely used in DVD production (file in *. Vob format, as well as some HDTV high-definition television broadcasts) and some demanding video editing and processing. Using the compression algorithm of MPEG-2, the size of a 120-minute movie (original video file) is about 4GB to 8GB. Of course, its picture quality index is incomparable with MPEG- 1.

MPEG-4

Playback software: (Windows Media Player, Divx Player 2.0 Alpha)

This is a new compression algorithm. The ASF format file (introduced next) using this algorithm can make a movie (original video file) with a length of 120 minutes "slim down" to about 300MB. Because it is small and easy to spread, it has become one of the main ways to watch online. This algorithm is said to be a coding technology prohibited from export in the United States. In addition, the source file can be compressed to about 600MB by using DivX format, but its image quality is much higher than ASF. Because of its high efficiency, there are rumors that the US government prohibits the export of this technology. Strictly speaking, there are two companies that have successfully developed mpeg-4 core technology in the world, one is Microsoft, and the other is Hantang Company, which is little known in China. It is defined as a standard by the moving picture expert group MPEG in 1999, and it is considered as a technology against Microsoft's entry into the media market. Although it is rare on ordinary websites, it may be used by traditional media companies.

4.DivX format

Playback software: (DivX player 2.0 Alpha)

The most incisive sentence to summarize the DivX format is: DVD killer. DivX video coding technology can be said to be born for DVD and developed to break the shackles of ASF. As mentioned above, it uses MPEG-4 algorithm, so only two VCDs are needed to compress a DVD! This not only means that you can get similar video quality without buying DVD-ROM, but also the producer of divx is a foreign computer player. divx is actually a combination of Microsoft's mpeg-4 video format and mp3 audio format. You just need to download a video decoding program of several hundred kb and install it in your computer. At present, there are four versions supporting pc, mac, linux and beos. Playing this code does not require much for the machine, and the minimum cpu usage is only above 300mhz. And in the choice of cpu type, whether your core is pii, Celeron or piii, AMDk6-2 or Athlon, or even cyrixx86, you can play. The graphics card has 64 megabytes of memory and an 8 megabytes of memory. Divx can play smoothly.

5.MOV format (film digital video technology)

Playback software: (QuickTime player)

Of all the video formats, MOV format is probably the least common one for you. Today, when PC almost dominates the world, the MOV format transplanted from Apple is naturally excluded. It has the technical characteristics of cross-platform and small storage space requirements. MOV format file with lossy compression method has better picture effect than AVI format. So far, it has four versions, of which version 4.0 has the best compression ratio. MOV was originally a video format used by Apple for its Macintosh computer. The corresponding video application software is Apple's Quicktime for macintosh. The function of this software is similar to vfw, but it is used for Macintosh. At the same time, Apple also introduced the video application software Apple's Quicktime for windows, so MOV video files can also be played on pc. MOV format video files can also be decompressed or compressed, and its compression algorithms include cinepak, Intel indeo video r3.2 and video coding. Among them, the application and effect of cinepak and intel indeo video r3.2 algorithm are similar to those of avi format. Mov and mpg video file formats can be supported) and image player (image browser, which only supports pictures in pic and jpeg formats).

6.WMV format (windows Meida video)

WMA format (windows meida audio)

Playback software: (Windows Media Player)

Microsoft produces video format files and audio format files, hoping to replace technical standards such as quicktime and file extensions such as wav and avi. The main advantages of wmv include: local or network playback, extensible media types, component download, extensible media types, stream priority, multilingual support, environmental independence, rich inter-stream relationships and scalability. The outstanding feature of wma format music files is that it provides a larger compression ratio than mp3 music files, but it is not bad in restoring music files. The key is wma format music files, which can be played by using windows Media Player 7/8 provided in windows, so as long as you use Windows, you don't have to worry about not being able to play them.

7.AVI format (n avi)

Playback software: (same as avi Avi, SAF)

This is a special format, which has nothing to do with Microsoft or *.avi. N avi is the abbreviation of newavi, which is a new video format developed by an underground organization called shadowrealm. It is a modification of Microsoft asf compression algorithm (not the imagined avi), and the video format pursues nothing more than compression rate and image quality, so navi improves some shortcomings of the original asf format in order to pursue this goal, so that navi can have a higher frame rate. Of course, this is at the expense of the video streaming characteristics of asf, which is also a non-network version of asf.

Stream format

Streaming file format is also specially encoded, but its purpose is different from compressed file. The data bits are rearranged to be suitable for downloading and playing on the network. Theoretically, it is possible to play any standard media files by streaming media on the Internet, but not all of them are suitable, and some of them are inefficient. In order to encode a compressed media file into a streaming file, a lot of additional information must be added so that the clips received by the client can be played in a new order. This paper mainly introduces the streaming media format files of three major streaming media companies, real, Microsoft and Apple.

1.RM/RA format

Playback software: (RealOne)

This is the great contribution of realnetworks to the multimedia world, and also the promotion of online movies. Its birth also makes streaming files known to more people. This kind of file can be played in real time, that is, some video files are downloaded from the server to form a video stream buffer and then played in real time, and at the same time, the download is continued to prepare for the next play. This way of "broadcasting while transmitting" avoids the disadvantage that users have to wait for the whole file to be downloaded from the Internet before they can watch it, so it is especially suitable for watching movies online. RM is mainly used for real-time transmission of compressed video on low-speed networks, and also has the characteristics of small size and clarity. The size of RM file depends entirely on the compression ratio chosen when making it, which is why sometimes we see that the image of 1 hour is only 200MB, while others are 500MB. RM/RA is one of the audio/video compression standards developed by realnetworks. Realmedia is the most popular cross-platform client/server multimedia application standard on the Internet, which uses audio and video streaming and synchronous playback technology to realize full-bandwidth multimedia playback on the Internet. Realaudio is used to transmit audio data close to cd sound quality, and realvideo is used to transmit continuous video data.

2.RP(realpix)

Playback software: (RealPlayer 6 or above or plug-in, Realone, Realpix player)

Realpix is a part of the newly released realmeida file format, which allows image files to be directly transmitted to users through the Internet. By binding other media such as audio and text to pictures, you can make multimedia files for various purposes. As long as you need to understand simple symbol files, you can make RP files with a text editor. Realpix files can be sent to realplayer through realserver and played directly, but because it is a new media standard format, previous versions such as realplayer 4.0 and 5.0 cannot be played.

3. Real-time text

Playback software: (RealOne)

Realtext is also part of the newly released realmeida file format, which is released to allow text to be transmitted from a file or live stream to the client. Realtext file can be a single text or a text-based media, and its form is completely determined by needs. Because the Realtext file is also defined by symbolic language, it can be made with a simple text editor.

4.ASF format (advanced stream format)

Playback software: (Windows Media Player)

Video files with *. Asf and *. Wmv came into being with the suffix RM, which is also the core of WindowsMedia. Their * * * feature is that they use MPEG-4 compression algorithm, so the compression rate and image quality are very good (just worse than VCD and better than RM format). Like most video formats, the picture quality is inversely proportional to the file size. In other words, the better the image quality, the larger the file; On the contrary, the smaller the file, the worse the image quality. When making ASF files, it is recommended to adopt a resolution of 320×240 and a frame rate of 30 frames per second, which can give consideration to both clarity and file size. It's much better than *. Rm, also a video format. This format is clearly explained with the help of Microsoft. Here I simply quote, "asf is an open standard that supports data transmission under various networks and protocols. Asf is used to arrange, organize and synchronize multimedia data for transmission through the network. Asf is a data format; However, it can also be used to specify the format of the live presentation. Asf is not only suitable for sending multimedia streams through the network, but also suitable for playing them locally. Any compression-decompression algorithm (codec) can be used to encode asf streams. The information stored in asf stream can be used to help customers decide which codec should be used to decompress the stream. In addition, asf streams can be transmitted according to any basic network transmission protocol. "

5.MOV format (film digital video technology)

Playback software: (QuickTime player)

Quicktime has developed a multimedia file format called Quicktime movie. This file format is a very flexible storage format. Although quicktime does not force users to store media materials as Quicktime movie files, most customers will find Quicktime movie file format a convenient and powerful multimedia file format. It is much stronger than the avi file format introduced by Microsoft earlier. In addition, Quicktime movie file format is not limited by system platform, system openness and scalability, so it is an ideal environment to use it as a distributed multimedia system. At present, Quicktime movie format is becoming more and more popular.

Media file publishing format

The media distribution format is neither a compressed format nor a transport protocol. It does not describe the audio-visual data itself, nor does it provide an encoding method. It's actually a playlist. A playlist is a customized list of files you want to watch. Playlists allow you to group different media content together and play them in any order you specify. Both Real and Microsoft have defined their own playlist formats. The media publishing format does not include the physical data of the media, but only describes the data type and arrangement. Most of these files can be opened and modified at will with a text editor. This provides a de facto standard method for media distribution with different compression standards and media file formats. A single media publishing format can contain all information of different types of media, such as timing, synchronization of multiple streams, copyright and owner information. The actual audio-visual data can be located in multiple files, and the information contained in the media release file controls the playback of the stream. Here are some common media publishing formats.

1. Random Access Storage

Playback software: (RealOne)

RAM file is the index file of Realmeida file, that is, RAM playlist. The RAM file does not include any media data, but indicates the storage location of the media data. It will tell the browser to start Realplayer to view hyperlinks, and then request the real media file from the service.

It can be handwritten, and the content written is the content of hyperlinks, or it can be automatically published and generated through the publish function of Realproducer software. When it is finally published to Realserver, you need to put the RAM file on the server and the Realplayer file together, and then make a connection on your own page and call RealPlayer to play it.

2.RAX

Playback software: (Windows Media Player)

We often come across RAX original files or. Asx file, which is the index file of Microsoft media files and playlists.

Playlists group media content together and store the location of the media content, whether it is your computer, another computer in the network or the Internet. In its simplest form, it contains information about the url of the stream. Microsoft windows media player processes this information and then opens it. Asx file.

3.SMIL (synchronized multimedia integration language)

Playback software: (RealPlayer Basic, RealOne, browser above IE 5.5)

SMIL, synchronized multimedia integration language is a language about streaming media technology designated by w3c. Its function is to keep the multimedia applications on the web synchronized, just like the function of Html in hyperlink text.

SMIL is a simple and easy-to-use symbolic language, which is developed on the basis of XML. Its purpose is to make webbuilder at all technical levels arrange the order of audio, video, text and image files by compiling a time series table, without having to master the corresponding development tools or complex programming languages.

You can play smil with realplayer, and ie5.5 fully supports smil.

Finally, ladies and gentlemen, besides Windows Media Player, I recommend four players, with which you can watch all the videos! I also hope that this information of Xue will help everyone and solve the video problem on the network. Enjoy your online life!

Realone:

RealPlayer and RealJukebox, RealOne Player v.2.0 can play more than 50 major digital media formats, such as RealAudio, RealVideo, MP3, Windows Media and QuickTime MPEG-4. In addition, the product is equipped with the functions of making CDs and supporting DVD playback, and the online broadcasting service has been strengthened.

DivX player

Only applicable to high-quality files in DivX format. I can't put this format down!

WinDVD & amppowerDVD

Why do you still use him? Xue often comes across a DVD that can be played, but it can't be played as stably as a DVD player, and there can also be DVD clips, language selection screens and segmented playback! WinDVD is completely based on the principle of DVD player!

QuickTime player

Although the professional player realone of Apple computer supports it, it's a pity not to install software! The extended functions provided by quicktime allow third-party applications to play powerful multimedia interactive processing functions through the system with the help of Quicktime. At present, many foreign computer games have built-in quicktime as the only player. These third-party programs include the professional multimedia video processing software of Adobe, a famous image processing expert. It can be seen that its professional status!