Codecs

Codecs

Codec stands for encoder-decoder and is a way to compress digital data. You encode it to make it smaller, but it cannot be played in this form, so you decode it to get (roughly) the original back.

There are different methods of encoding that give different qualities. A codec that can give better quality and smaller file sizes is very useful especially if you are transferring files over the internet. Programmers find better, more clever ways to encode the data to get smaller files and better quality and so you get a new codec.

You need a container to hold the different types of information that is needed for a movie. You need video and audio information. You need information to tell the movie player what kind codecs are used, you might want to included subtitles or other information in the container as well.