List of codecs

The following is a list of codecs.

Audio codecs

Non-compression formats

* Audio Interchange File Format (AIFF, container format)
* Resource Interchange File Format (RIFF, container format)
* WAV – Microsoft "WAVE" format (format supports compression, but it is rarely used)
* Linear Pulse Code Modulation (LPCM, generally only described as PCM, note that AIFF, WAV and MLP are all derivative forms of LPCM)
* Pulse-amplitude modulation (PAM)

Lossless data compression

* Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC)
* Direct Stream Transfer (DST)
* Dolby TrueHD – Optional lossless surround sound format used by HD DVD and Blu-ray, it uses MLP but adds higher sample rates, bit rates, and more channels
* DTS-HD Master Audio – Optional lossless surround sound format used by HD DVD and Blu-ray, it was previously known as DTS++ and DTS-HD
* Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC)
* Lossless Audio (LA)
* Lossless Predictive Audio Compression (LPAC)
* Lossless Transform Audio Compression (LTAC)
* MPEG-4 Audio Lossless Coding (MPEG-4 ALS)
* MPEG-4 Advanced Audio Coding - Scalable to lossless (AAC-SLS, also known as HD-AAC)
* Meridian Lossless Packing (MLP), also known as "Packed PCM (PPCM)", it is the standard lossless compression method for DVD-Audio content
* Monkey's Audio (APE)
* OptimFROG (OFR)
* RealAudio Lossless
* RK Audio (RKAU)
* Shorten (SHN)
* True Audio (TTA)
* WavPack (WV)
* Windows Media Audio 9 Lossless

Lossy data compression

General

* Adaptive Differential (or Delta) pulse-code modulation (ADPCM, see Pulse-code modulation)
* ADX
* Adaptive Rate-Distortion Optimised sound codeR (ARDOR)
* Adaptive Transform Acoustic Coding (ATRAC, used in MiniDisc devices)
* Dolby Digital (A/52, AC3)
* DTS Coherent Acoustics (DTS, Digital Theatre System Coherent Acoustics)
* Impala FORscene audio codec
* ITU standards:
** G.719
** G.722
** G.722.1
*** G.722.1 Annex C
* MPEG audio
** layer-1 (MP1)
** layer-2 (MP2) (MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and non-ISO MPEG-2.5)
** layer-3 (MP3) (MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and non-ISO MPEG-2.5)
** Advanced Audio Coding (AAC, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4)
*** HE-AAC
** Harmonic and Individual Lines and Noise (HILN, MPEG-4 Parametric Audio Coding)
* Musepack
* Perceptual Audio Coding
* QDesign
* TwinVQ
* Vorbis
* Windows Media Audio (WMA)

Voice

(low bit rate, optimized for speech)
* Advanced Multi-Band Excitation (AMBE)
* Algebraic Code Excited Linear Prediction (ACELP)
* Code Excited Linear Prediction (CELP)
* Continuously variable slope delta modulation (CVSD)
* Dialogic ADPCM (VOX)
* Digital Speech Standard (DSS)
* Enhanced Variable Rate Codec (EVRC)
* FS-1015 (LPC-10)
* FS-1016 (CELP)
* ITU standards:
** G.711 (a-law and μ-law)
** G.718
** G.719
** G.721 (superseded by G.726)
** G.722
*** G.722.1
*** G.722.2 (AMR-WB)
** G.723 (24 and 40 kbit/s DPCM, extension to G.721, superseded by G.726)
** G.723.1 (MPC-MLQ or ACELP)
** G.726 (ADPCM)
** G.728 (LD-CELP)
** G.729 (CS-ACELP)
*** G.729a
*** G.729.1
* GSM codecs:
** Full Rate
** Half Rate
** Enhanced Full Rate
** Adaptive Multi-Rate (AMR)
*** AMR-NB
*** AMR-WB
*** AMR-WB+
* Harmonic Vector Excitation Coding (HVXC)
* Internet Low Bit Rate Codec (iLBC)
* Improved Multi-Band Excitation (IMBE)
* internet Speech Audio Codec (iSAC)
* Mixed Excitation Linear Prediction (MELP)
* QCELP
* Relaxed Code Excited Linear Prediction (RCELP)
* RTAudio - used by Microsoft Live Communication Server
* Selectable Mode Vocoder (SMV)
* Speex, patent free
* Triple Rate CODER (TRC) - used in some pocket recorders.
* Vector Sum Excited Linear Prediction (VSELP)

Text codecs

* Ogg Writ

Video codecs

Lossless compression

* CorePNG
* Huffyuv
* Lagarith
* LCL
* MSU Lossless Video Codec
* SheerVideo
* [http://www.techsmith.com/codecs/tscc/default.asp TSCC] TechSmith Screen Capture Codec
* [http://wiki.multimedia.cx/index.php?title=DosBox_Capture_Codec ZMBV] (Zip Motion Block Video) Codec

Lossy compression

* Audio Video Standard (AVS)
* Blackbird FORscene video codec
* Cinepak
* Dirac
* Firebird [http://www.forbidden.co.uk/demos/live/] Original FORscene video codec
* H.261
* H.263
* MPEG-4 ASP (Advanced Simple Profile) or MPEG-4 Part 2
** 3ivx
** HDX4
** Nero Digital
** DivX
** FFmpeg MPEG-4
** Xvid
* H.264, also known as MPEG-4 AVC (Advanced Video Coding) or MPEG-4 Part 10
** CoreAVC
** MainConcept
** Nero Digital
** QuickTime H.264 (MP4)
** Sorenson AVC Pro codec, Sorenson's new implementation
** Vanguard Software Solutions
** x264
* Indeo 3/4/5
* MJPEG
* JPEG 2000 intra frame video codec
* MPEG-1 Video
* MPEG-2 Video
* MPEG-4 ASP (Advanced Simple Profile)
* MPEG-4 AVC (Advanced Video Coding) - approved for Blu-ray
* On2 Technologies VP3, VP6, VP7, under the name "The Duck Corporation": TrueMotion S
* Pixlet
* Apple ProRes 422
* RealVideo
* Snow Wavelet Codec
* Tarkin
* Theora
* TruDef high definition fractal video codec
* VC-1 (the primary video codec used by HD DVD and Blu-ray)
* Windows Media Video (WMV)
** WAX (Part of the Windows Media Series)

Other

Audio Video Interleave (AVI) is not a codec, rather it is a container format, like Matroska, that many video codecs can use.

See also

* Open source codecs and containers
* Comparison of video codecs
* Comparison of audio codecs
* Comparison of container formats
* Comparison of media players

External links

* [http://www.doom9.org/codec-comparisons.htm Subjective codec comparison]
* [http://www.bobulous.org.uk/misc/audio_formats_comparison_2006.html Audio formats comparison] , a look at six lossless formats and five lossy formats.
* http://www.fourcc.org/codecs.php, list of codec four digit codes (like DIV3, XVID, ...)
* [http://www.soundexpert.info Interactive blind listening tests of audio codecs over the internet]
* http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net/en/Support/Formats ,List of different audio codecs and meta-data by them