Video Codec

A video codec is a device or software that enables compression or decompression of digital video. The compression is usually lossy. Historically, video was stored as an analog signal on magnetic tape. Around the time when the compact disc entered the market as a digital-format replacement for analog audio, it became feasible to also begin storing and using video in digital form, and a variety of such technologies began to emerge.

Audio and video call for customized methods of compression. Engineers and mathematicians have tried a number of solutions for tackling this problem.

There is a complex balance between the video quality, the quantity of the data needed to represent it (also known as the bit rate), the complexity of the encoding and decoding algorithms, robustness to data losses and errors, ease of editing, random access, the state of the art of compression algorithm design, end-to-end delay, and a number of other factors.

Read more about Video Codec:  Applications, Video Codec Design, Commonly Used Video Codecs

Famous quotes containing the word video:

    We attempt to remember our collective American childhood, the way it was, but what we often remember is a combination of real past, pieces reshaped by bitterness and love, and, of course, the video past—the portrayals of family life on such television programs as “Leave it to Beaver” and “Father Knows Best” and all the rest.
    Richard Louv (20th century)