List of codecs

The following is a list of compression formats and related codecs.

Audio compression formats

Main article: Audio coding format

Non-compression

• Linear pulse-code modulation (LPCM, generally only described as PCM) is the format for uncompressed audio in media files and it is also the standard for CD-DA; note that in computers, LPCM is usually stored in container formats such as WAV, AIFF, or AU, or as raw audio format, although not technically necessary.
  • FFmpeg
• Pulse-density modulation (PDM)
  • Direct Stream Digital (DSD) is standard for Super Audio CD
    • foobar2000 Super Audio CD Decoder (based on MPEG-4 DST reference decoder)
    • FFmpeg (based on dsd2pcm)
• Pulse-amplitude modulation (PAM)

Lossless compression

Main article: Lossless data compression

• Actively used
  • Most popular
    • Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC)^[1]
      • libFLAC
      • FFmpeg
    • Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC)
      • Apple QuickTime
      • libalac
      • FFmpeg
      • Apple Music^[2]
    • Monkey's Audio (APE)
      • Monkey's Audio SDK
      • FFmpeg (decoder only)
    • OptimFROG (OFR)
    • Tom's verlustfreier Audiokompressor (TAK)
      • TAK SDK
      • FFmpeg (decoder only)
    • WavPack (WV)
      • libwavpack
      • FFmpeg
    • True Audio (TTA)
      • libtta
      • FFmpeg
    • Windows Media Audio Lossless (WMAL)
      • Windows Media Encoder
      • FFmpeg (decoder only)
  • Other
    • DTS-HD Master Audio, also known as DTS++ and DCA XLL
      • libdca (decoder only)
      • FFmpeg (decoder only)
    • Dolby TrueHD – Standard for DVD-Audio in Blu-ray (mathematically based on MLP)
      • FFmpeg
    • Meridian Lossless Packing (MLP), also known as Packed PCM (PPCM) – Standard for DVD-Audio in DVD
      • FFmpeg
    • MPEG-4 Audio Lossless Coding (MPEG-4 ALS)
      • SSC, DST, ALS and SLS reference software (ISO/IEC 14496-5:2001/Amd.10:2007)
      • FFmpeg (decoding only)
    • MPEG-4 Scalable Lossless Coding (MPEG-4 SLS) – Parts of it are used in HD-AAC.
      • SSC, DST, ALS and SLS reference software (ISO/IEC 14496-5:2001/Amd.10:2007)
    • RealAudio Lossless
      • RealPlayer
      • FFmpeg (decoding only)
    • BFDLAC (BFD Lossless Audio Compression).^[3] Ongoing development.
      • FXpansion's BFD3 drum software. (2013-2017)
  • Oddball
    • ATRAC Advanced Lossless (AAL) – Extremely unpopular
      • FFmpeg (lossy decoder only)
    • Direct Stream Transfer (DST) - Only used for Direct Stream Digital
      • SSC, DST, ALS and SLS reference software (ISO/IEC 14496-5:2001/Amd.10:2007)
      • FFmpeg (decoder only)
    • Original Sound Quality (OSQ) - Only used in WaveLab
      • FFmpeg (decoding only)
• Discontinued
  • Lossless Audio (LA)^[4] – No update for 10+ years
  • Shorten (SHN)^[5] – Officially discontinued.
    • libshn
    • FFmpeg (decoding only)
  • Lossless Predictive Audio Compression (LPAC) – Predecessor of MPEG-4 ALS
  • Lossless Transform Audio Compression (LTAC) – Predecessor of LPAC
  • MPEG-1 Audio Layer III HD (mp3HD) – Officially discontinued
  • RK Audio (RKAU)^[6] – Officially discontinued
    • FFmpeg (decoding only)

Lossy compression

Main article: Lossy data compression § Audio

• Discrete cosine transform (DCT)
  • Modified discrete cosine transform (MDCT, used in most of the audio codecs listed below)

General/Speech hybrid

• Unified Speech and Audio Coding (USAC, MPEG-D Part 3, ISO/IEC 23003-3)
  • exhale (encoder only; open source)
• IETF standards:
  • Opus (RFC 6716) – based on SILK vocoder and CELT codec
    • libopus
    • FFmpeg (decoding and experimental encoding)
• IETF Internet Draft
  • IPMR Speech Codec^[7] - used in Spirit DSP's TeamSpirit Voice&Video Engine^[8]

Neural audio codecs

• Lyra (codec) - used in Google Duo
• Lyra V2 - based on SoundStream neural codec
• Satin (used by Microsoft Teams)
• Facebook EnCodec

General

• Adaptive differential pulse-code modulation (ADPCM, also called adaptive delta pulse-code modulation)
• Adaptive Transform Acoustic Coding (ATRAC, used in MiniDisc devices)
  • FFmpeg (decoder only)
• ATSC/ETSI standards:
  • Dolby Digital (AC3, ATSC A/52, ETSI TS 102 366)
    • FFmpeg
    • liba52 (decoder only)
  • Dolby Digital Plus (E-AC-3, ATSC A/52:2012 Annex E, ETSI TS 102 366 Annex E)
    • FFmpeg
  • DTS Coherent Acoustics (DTS, Digital Theatre System Coherent Acoustics, ETSI TS 102 114)
    • FFmpeg
    • libdca (decoder only)
  • Dolby AC-4 (ETSI TS 103 190)
• Impala Blackbird audio codec
• ITU standards:
  • G.719
  • G.722
    • FFmpeg
  • G.722.1 (subset of Siren7) and G.722.1 Annex C (subset of Siren14)
    • libg722_1
    • libsiren (part of libmsn and msn-pecan)
  • G.722.2
    • 3GPP TS 26.173 – AMR-WB speech Codec (C-source code) – reference implementation^[9]
    • opencore-amr (decoder)
    • VisualOn AMR-WB encoder
    • FFmpeg (decoding only)
  • EVS
• MPEG-1 Audio and MPEG-2 Audio
  • layer I (MP1) (MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and non-ISO MPEG-2.5)
    • FFmpeg (decoder only)
  • layer II (MP2) (MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and non-ISO MPEG-2.5)
    • FFmpeg
    • tooLame (encoding only)
    • twoLame (encoding only)
  • layer III (MP3) (MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and non-ISO MPEG-2.5)
    • FFmpeg (decoding only)
    • LAME (encoding only)
  • Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) (MPEG-2 Part 7)
    • FAAC (encoder) and FAAD (decoder)
    • FFmpeg
    • iTunes
    • Nero AAC Codec
    • VisualOn AAC Encoder (a.k.a. libvo_aacenc)
    • Fraunhofer FDK AAC
    • libaacplus
• MPEG-4 Audio
  • Advanced Audio Coding (AAC, MPEG-4 Part 3 subpart 4), HE-AAC and AAC-LD
    • FAAC, FAAD2
    • FFmpeg
    • iTunes
    • Nero AAC Codec
    • MPEG-4 AAC reference software (ISO/IEC 14496-5:2001)
  • Harmonic and Individual Lines and Noise (HILN, MPEG-4 Parametric Audio Coding)
    • MPEG-4 reference software (ISO/IEC 14496-5:2001)
  • TwinVQ
    • MPEG-4 reference software (ISO/IEC 14496-5:2001)
    • FFmpeg (decoding only)
  • BSAC (Bit-Sliced Arithmetic Coding)
    • MPEG-4 reference software (ISO/IEC 14496-5:2001)
• MPEG-H
  • MPEG-H 3D Audio
• Musepack (a.k.a. MPEGplus)
  • Musepack SV8 Tools
  • FFmpeg (decoding only)
• NICAM
• AT&T Perceptual Audio Coder
• Precision Adaptive Subband Coding (PASC; a variant of MP1; used in Digital Compact Cassette)
• QDesign (purchased by DTS)
  • QDesign Music Codec – used in Apple QuickTime
    • FFmpeg (decoding only)
• PictureTel (purchased by Polycom)
  • Siren 7
    • libg722_1
    • libsiren (part of libmsn and msn-pecan)
    • FFmpeg (decoder only)
  • Siren 14
    • libg722_1
    • vgmstream (decoder only)
  • Siren 22
• NTT TwinVQ
  • FFmpeg (decoder only)
  • NTT TwinVQ Encoder, NTT TwinVQ Player
• Voxware MetaSound (a variant of NTT TwinVQ)
  • Windows Media Player (voxmsdec.ax)
  • FFmpeg (decoder only)
• Vorbis
  • aoTuV
  • FFmpeg
  • libvorbis
  • Tremor (decoder only)
• Windows Media Audio (WMA)
  • Windows Media Encoder
  • FFmpeg

AES3

• SMPTE 302M
  • FFmpeg (decoder only)
• Dolby E
  • FFmpeg (decoder only)

Bluetooth

• Bluetooth Special Interest Group
  • Low Complexity Subband Coding (SBC)
    • BlueZ's SBC library (libsbc)
    • Fluoride Bluetooth stack (successor of BlueDroid)
    • FFmpeg
  • CVSD 8 kHz - used in Hands-Free Profile (HFP)
  • modified SBC (mSBC) - used in Hands-Free Profile (HFP)
    • BlueZ's SBC library (libsbc)^[10]
    • Fluoride Bluetooth stack
    • FFmpeg
  • SBC XQ
    • PulseAudio's bluetooth stack^[11] (encoder only)
    • PipeWire's bluetooth stack^[12] (encoder only)
  • LC3 (Low Complexity Communication Codec)
    • Google's liblc3 (open source) - used in Android 13 and later
• ETSI
  • LC3plus (ETSI TS 103 634)
    • Google's liblc3 (open source)
• Qualcomm Technologies International (formerly CSR)
  • aptX (a.k.a. apt-X)
    • Qualcomm libaptX^[13]
    • FFmpeg
  • aptX HD
    • Qualcomm libaptXHD^[13]
    • FFmpeg
  • aptX Low Latency
  • aptX Adaptive
  • FastStream - a variant of SBC codec for bi-directional audio transmission
• Sony
  • LDAC
    • libldac (encoder only)^[14] - used in Android Oreo
    • libldacdec (decoder only)
• HWA Alliance/Savitech
  • LHDC^[15]
    • HWA encoder/decoder
  • LLAC^[16]
    • HWA encoder/decoder
• HiBy
  • Ultra Audio Transmission (UAT)
• Samsung
  • Samsung HD/UHQ-BT codec
  • Samsung Scalable codec
  • Samsung Seamless codec
• MQA
  • MQair

Digital radio

• Hybrid Digital Coding - used in HD Radio (a.k.a. NRSC-5)
  • NRSC-5 receiver for rtl-sdr (decoder only)

Voice

Main article: Speech coding

(low bit rate, optimized for speech)

• Linear predictive coding (LPC, used in most of the speech codecs listed below)
  • Code-excited linear prediction (CELP)
    • Algebraic code-excited linear prediction (ACELP)
• Xiph.Org Foundation
  • Speex, patent free^[17]
    • libspeex
    • FFmpeg (decoder only)
• Dialogic ADPCM (VOX)
  • FFmpeg (decoder only)
• ITU standards:
  • G.711 (a-law and μ-law companding; 64 kbit/s), also known as PCM of voice frequencies
    • Sun Microsystems's public domain implementation^[18]
    • FFmpeg (libavcodec)
  • G.711.0 (G.711 LLC)
  • G.711.1 (Wideband extension for G.711; 64/80/96 kbit/s)
  • G.711.1D (Super-wideband extension for G.711.1; 96/112/128 kbit/s)
  • G.718 (8/12/16/24/32 kbit/s)
  • G.718B (Super-wideband extension for G.718; 28–48 kbit/s)
  • G.719
  • G.721 (superseded by G.726; 32 kbit/s)
    • Sun Microsystems's public domain implementation^[18]
  • G.722 (SB-ADPCM; 48/56/64 kbit/s)
    • FFmpeg
  • G.722B (Super-wideband extension for G.722; 64/80/96 kbit/s)
  • G.722.2 (AMR-WB)
    • 3GPP TS 26.173 – AMR-WB speech Codec (C-source code) – reference implementation^[9]
    • opencore-amr (decoder)
    • FFmpeg (decoder only)
  • G.723 (24 and 40 kbit/s DPCM, extension to G.721, superseded by G.726)
    • Sun Microsystems's public domain implementation^[18]
  • G.723.1 (MPC-MLQ or ACELP; 5.3/6.3 kbit/s)
    • FFmpeg
  • G.726 (ADPCM; 16/24/32/40 kbit/s)
    • Sun Microsystems's public domain implementation^[18]
    • FFmpeg (libavcodec)
  • G.727
    • Sun Microsystems's public domain implementation^[18]
  • G.728 (LD-CELP; 16 kbit/s)
  • G.729 (CS-ACELP; 8 kbit/s)
    • FFmpeg (decoder only)
  • G.729a
  • G.729b
  • G.729ab
  • G.729d (6.4 kbit/s)
    • FFmpeg (decoder only)
  • G.729e (11.8 kbit/s)
  • G.729.1 (G.729 Annex J; Wideband extension for G.711; 8–32 kbit/s)
  • G.729.1E (Super-wideband extension for G.729.1)
• Google
  • internet Speech Audio Codec (iSAC)
    • WebRTC
• Nellymoser Asao Codec
  • FFmpeg (libavcodec)
• PictureTel PT716, PT716plus
• PictureTel PT724
• RTAudio – used by Microsoft Live Communication Server
• SVOPC – used by Skype
• OpenLPC – created by Future Dynamics^[18]
  • HawkVoice (libHVDI)
• ANSI/SCTE
  • ANSI/SCTE 24-21 2006 (BroadVoice16)
    • BroadVoice Speech Codec Open Source C Code
  • ANSI/SCTE 24-22 2013 (iLBCv2.0)
  • ANSI/SCTE 24-23 2007 (BroadVoice32)
    • BroadVoice Speech Codec Open Source C Code
• IETF RFCs:
  • Internet Low Bit Rate Codec (iLBC, RFC 3951) – developed by Global IP Solutions/Google
    • WebRTC
• IETF Internet Draft
  • SILK (used by Skype)^[19]
  • CELT (developed by Xiph.Org Foundation)^[20]
    • libcelt
• MPEG-4 Audio
  • MPEG-4 CELP
  • MPEG-4 HVXC
• Skyphone MPLP
• Inmarsat
  • INMARSAT-M IMBE
  • Inmarsat Mini-M AMBE

Microsoft DirectPlay

Those codecs are used by many PC games which use voice chats via Microsoft DirectPlay API.

• Voxware MetaVoice
  • Windows Media Player (voxmvdec.ax)
• Truespeech
  • Windows Media Player (tssoft32.acm)
  • FFmpeg (decoder only)
• MS GSM
  • Windows Media Player (msgsm32.acm)
  • libgsm
  • FFmpeg (decoder only)
• MS-ADPCM
  • Windows Media Player (msadp32.acm)
  • FFmpeg

Digital Voice Recorder

• International Voice Association (IVA) standards:
  • Digital Speech Standard / Standard Play (DSS-SP)
    • FFmpeg (decoding only)
  • Digital Speech Standard / Quality Play (DSS-QP)
• Sony LPEC
• Truespeech Triple Rate CODER (TRC)^[21] – used in some pocket recorders
• Micronas [de] Intermetall MI-SC4 - used by voice recorders such as RadioShack Digital Recorder^[22] and I-O DATA [ja] HyperHyde^[23]
  • FFmpeg (decoder only)

Mobile phone

Generation 2

• European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) GSM
  • Full Rate (GSM 06.10, RPE-LTP)
    • libgsm
    • FFmpeg (decoder only)
  • Half Rate (GSM 06.20, VSELP 5.6 kbit/s)
  • Enhanced Full Rate (GSM 06.60, ACELP 12.20 kbit/s, compatible with AMR mode AMR_12.20)
• Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) IS-95 (a.k.a. cdmaOne)
  • IS-96A (QCELP 8 kbit/s)
  • IS-127 (EVRC 8 kbit/s)
  • IS-733 (QCELP 13 kbit/s)
• Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) IS-54/IS-136 (a.k.a. Digital AMPS)
  • IS-85 (VSELP 8kbit/s)
    • ITU-T G.191's IS-54 implementation
  • IS-641 (ACELP 7.4 kbit/s, compatible with AMR mode AMR_7.40)
• Association of Radio Industries and Businesses (ARIB) RCR STD-27 (PDC)
  • PDC-HR (PSI-CELP 3.45 kbit/s)
  • PDC-FR (VSELP 11.2 kbit/s)
  • PDC-EFR CS-ACELP 8 kbit/s (a.k.a. G.729)
  • PDC-EFR ACELP 6.7 kbit/s (compatible with AMR mode AMR_6.70)

Generation 3/4

• 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP)
  • Adaptive Multi-Rate (AMR)
    • AMR-NB
      • 3GPP TS 26.073 – AMR speech Codec (C-source code) – reference implementation^[24]
      • opencore-amr (one may compile ffmpeg with—enable-libopencore-amrnb to incorporate the OpenCORE lib)
      • FFmpeg (by default decoder only, but see above the compiling options to incorporate the OpenCORE lib)
    • AMR-WB
      • 3GPP TS 26.173 – AMR-WB speech Codec (C-source code) – reference implementation^[9]
      • opencore-amr (decoder), from OpenCORE (one may compile ffmpeg with—enable-libopencore-amrwb to incorporate the OpenCORE lib)
      • vo-amrwbenc (encoder), from VisualOn, included in Android (one may compile ffmpeg with—enable-libvo-amrwbenc to incorporate the VisualOn lib)
      • FFmpeg (by default decoder only, but see above the compiling options).
    • AMR-WB+
      • 3GPP TS 26.273 – AMR-WB+ speech Codec (C-source code) – reference implementation^[25]
    • Enhanced Voice Services (EVS)
      • 3GPP TS.26.443 – Codec for Enhanced Voice Services (EVS) – ANSI C code (floating-point)^[26]
• 3rd Generation Partnership Project 2 (3GPP2)
  • Enhanced Variable Rate Codec (EVRC, a.k.a. IS-127) – based on RCELP
    • FFmpeg (decoder only)
  • Enhanced Variable Rate Codec B (EVRC-B)
  • QCELP (Qualcomm Code Excited Linear Prediction)
    • QCELP-8 (a.k.a. SmartRate or IS-96C)
      • FFmpeg (decoder only)
    • QCELP-13 (a.k.a. PureVoice or IS-733)
      • FFmpeg (decoder only)
  • Selectable Mode Vocoder (SMV)
  • Variable Multi Rate – WideBand (VMR-WB)

Professional mobile radio

• APCO
  • Project 25 Phase 2 Enhanced Full-Rate (AMBE+2 4400bit/s with 2800bit/s FEC)
  • Project 25 Phase 2 Half-Rate (AMBE+2 2450bit/s with 1150bit/s FEC) – also used in NXDN and DMR
    • mbelib (decoder only)
  • Project 25 Phase 1 Full Rate (IMBE 7200bit/s)
    • mbelib (decoder only)
• European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI)
  • ETS 300 395-2 (TETRA ACELP 4.6kbit/s)
• TETRAPOL
  • RPCELP 6 kbit/s
• D-STAR Digital Voice (AMBE 2400bit/s with 1200bit/s FEC)
  • mbelib (decoder only)
• Professional Digital Trunking System Industry Association (PDT Alliance) standards:
  • NVOC – used in China
• Spirit DSP RALCWI
• DSPINI
  • SPR Robust
  • TWELP Robust
• Codec2
  • libcodec2
• RL-CELP (used in Japanese railways^[27][28])

Military

• U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Federal Standard:
  • FS-1015 (a.k.a. LPC-10)
    • HawkVoice (libHVDI)
  • FS-1016 (CELP)
    • HawkVoice (libHVDI)
  • FS-1023 (CVSD 12kbit/s)
• United States Military Standard (MIL-STD)
  • MIL-STD-188 113 (CVSD 16 kbit/s and 32 kbit/s)
    • SoX (libsox)
  • MIL-STD-3005 (a.k.a. MELP)
    • Texas Instruments' 2.4 kbit/s MELP Proposed Federal Standard speech coder
• NATO
  • STANAG 4198 (a.k.a. LPC-10e)
    • SpanDSP (open source)
  • STANAG-4591 (a.k.a. MELPe)
    • Microsoft Speech coder
• BBN NRV – developed in DARPA program^[29]

Video games

• Bink Audio, Smacker Audio
  • FFmpeg (decoder only)
• Actimagine (Nintendo European Research & Development) FastAudio^[30]
  • MobiclipDecoder (decoder only)
  • FFmpeg (decoder only)
• Nintendo GCADPCM^[31] (a.k.a. DSP ADPCM or THP ADPCM) - used in GameCube, Wii and Nintendo 3DS.
  • vgmstream (decoder only)
  • VGAudio
  • FFmpeg (decoder only)
• Sony VAG^[31] (a.k.a. Sony PSX ADPCM)
  • vgmstream (decoder only)
  • FFmpeg (decoder only)
• Sony HEVAG^[31] - used in PS Vita.^[32]
  • vgmstream (decoder only)
• Sony ATRAC9^[31] - used in PS4 and PS Vita.
  • VGAudio (decoder only)
  • FFmpeg (decoder only)
• Microsoft XMA^[31] - WMA variants for Xbox 360 hardware decoding.^[33]
  • FFmpeg (decoder only)
• Xbox ADPCM
  • vgmstream (decoder only)
• CRI ADX ADPCM
  • vgmstream (decoder only)
  • VGAudio
  • FFmpeg
• CRI HCA/HCA-MX - used in CRI ADX2 middleware.^[34]
  • vgmstream (decoder only)
  • VGAudio
  • FFmpeg (decoder only)
  • libcgss
  • HCADecoder (decoder only)
• FMOD FADPCM^[35]
  • vgmstream (decoder only)

Text compression formats

• BiM
• Continuous Media Markup Language (CMML)
• MPEG-4 Part 17 (e.g. 3GPP Timed Text)
• ttyrec

Video compression formats

Main article: Video coding format

Further information: Video codec and Comparison of video codecs

Non-compression

• RGB 4:4:4 (only linear, transfer-converted and bit-reduced also sort of compression up to about 3:1 for HDR)
• YUV 4:4:4/4:2:2/4:1:1/4:2:0 (all lower 4:4:4 is spatially compressed up to 2:1 for 4:2:0 with specific colour distortions).
  • Intel IYUV
• 10-bit uncompressed video
• Composite digital signal - used by SMPTE D-2 and D-3 broadcast digital videocassettes
• Avid DNxUncompressed
• V210

Analog signals

• PAL broadcast signal
  • Pyctools-PAL (open source)
• NTSC broadcast signal
  • gr-ntsc (open source)
• LaserDisc RF signal
  • ld-decode (open source)
• VHS / S-VHS / U-Matic RF signal
  • VHS-Decode (open source)
• Composite Video Baseband Signal (CVBS)
  • VHS-Decode's CVBS-Decode (open source)

Lossless video compression

• ITU-T/ISO/IEC standards:
  • H.264 lossless
    • x264 (encoder only)
    • FFmpeg (decoder only, uses x264 for encoding)
  • H.265 lossless^[36]
    • x265 (encoder only)
    • UHDcode (decoder only, uses x265 to read HEVC encoded files)^[37]
    • FFmpeg (decoder only, uses x265 for encoding)^[38][39]
  • Motion JPEG 2000 lossless
    • libopenjpeg
  • JPEG XS lossless
    • FastTICO-XS
• IETF standards:
  • FFV1 (RFC 9043)^[40]  – FFV1's compression factor is comparable to Motion JPEG 2000, but based on quicker algorithms (allows real-time capture). Written by Michael Niedermayer and published as part of FFmpeg under GNU LGPL.
    • FFmpeg
• SMPTE standards:
  • VC-2 HQ lossless (a.k.a. Dirac Pro lossless)
    • libdirac
    • libschroedinger
• Alparysoft Lossless Video Codec (Alpary)
• Apple Animation (QuickTime RLE)
  • QuickTime
  • FFmpeg
• ArithYuv
• AV1
  • libaom
• AVIzlib
  • LCL (VfW codec) MSZH and ZLIB^[41]
  • FFmpeg
• Autodesk Animator Codec (AASC)
  • FFmpeg (decoder only)
• CAI Format
• CamStudio GZIP/LZO
  • FFmpeg (decoder only)
• Chennai Codec (EVX-1)
  • Cairo Experimental Video Codec (open source)
• Dxtory
  • FFmpeg (decoder only)
• FastCodec
• Flash Screen Video v1/v2^[42]
  • FFmpeg
• FM Screen Capture Codec
  • FFmpeg (decoder only)
• Fraps codec (FPS1)^[43]
  • FFmpeg (decoder only)
• Grass Valley Lossless
  • Grass Valley Codec Option
  • FFmpeg (decoder only)
• Huffyuv Huffyuv (or HuffYUV) was written by Ben Rudiak-Gould and published under the terms of the GNU GPL as free software, meant to replace uncompressed YCbCr as a video capture format. It uses very little CPU but takes a lot of disk space. See also ffvhuff which is an "FFmpeg only" version of it.
  • FFmpeg
• IgCodec
• Intel RLE
• innoHeim/Rsupport Screen Capture Codec
  • FFmpeg (decoder only)
• Lagarith A more up-to-date fork of Huffyuv is available as Lagarith^[44]
  • Lagarith Codec (VfW codec)
  • FFmpeg (decoder only)
• LOCO^[45] - based on JPEG-LS
  • FFmpeg (decoder only)
• MagicYUV^[46]
  • MagicYUV SDK
  • FFmpeg
• Microsoft RLE (MSRLE)
  • FFmpeg
• MSU Lossless Video Codec
• MSU Screen Capture Lossless
• CorePNG [de] - based on PNG
  • FFmpeg
• ScreenPresso (SPV1)
  • FFmpeg (decoder only)
• ScreenPressor^[47] - a successor of MSU Screen Capture Lossless
  • FFmpeg (decoder only)
• SheerVideo
  • FFmpeg (decoder only)
• Snow lossless
  • FFmpeg
• TechSmith Screen Capture Codec (TSCC)^[48]
  • EnSharpen Video Codec for QuickTime
  • FFmpeg (decoder only)
• Toponoky
• Ut Video Codec Suite^[49][50]
  • libutvideo
  • FFmpeg
• VBLE^[51]
  • FFmpeg (decoder only)
• VMnc VMware screen codec^[52] - used by VMware Workstation
  • FFmpeg (decoder only)
• VP9 by Google^[53]
  • libvpx
  • FFmpeg (decoder only)
• YULS
• ZeroCodec
  • FFmpeg (decoder only)
• ZMBV (Zip Motion Block Video) Codec - used by DOSBox
  • FFmpeg

Lossless game codecs

• DXA
  • ScummVM Tools (encoder only)
  • FFmpeg (decoder only)

Lossy compression

• Discrete cosine transform (DCT, used in Digital Betacam^[54] and most of the video codecs listed below)

General

• ITU-T/ISO/IEC standards:
  • H.120
  • H.261 (a.k.a. Px64)
    • FFmpeg H.261 (libavcodec)
    • Microsoft H.263
  • MPEG-1 Part 2 (MPEG-1 Video)
    • FFmpeg
    • MainConcept MPEG-1
    • TMPGEnc
  • H.262/MPEG-2 Part 2 (MPEG-2 Video)
    • Canopus ProCoder
    • Cinema Craft Encoder
    • FFmpeg
    • InterVideo Video Decoder
    • MainConcept MPEG-2
    • Microsoft H.263
    • TMPGEnc
  • H.263
    • FFmpeg H.263 (libavcodec)
  • MPEG-4 Part 2 (MPEG-4 Advanced Simple Profile)
    • 3ivx
    • DivX
    • libavcodec
    • HDX4
    • Nero Digital
    • Xvid
  • H.264/MPEG-4 AVC or MPEG-4 Part 10 (MPEG-4 Advanced Video Coding), approved for Blu-ray
    • CoreAVC (decoder only; limited to below Hi10P profile)
    • MainConcept
    • Nero Digital
    • QuickTime H.264
    • Sorenson AVC Pro codec, Sorenson's new implementation
    • OpenH264 (baseline profile only)
    • x264 (encoder only; supports some of Hi422P and Hi444PP features)
    • FFmpeg (decoder only)
  • MPEG-4 AVC variants:
    • MPEG-4 Web Video Coding or MPEG-4 Part 29 – a subset of MPEG-4 AVC baseline profile
    • XAVC
  • HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding, H.265, MPEG-H part 2)
    • x265 (encoder only)
  • Versatile Video Coding (H.266, VVC)
    • VVC Test Model (VTM reference software for VVC; open source)
    • Fraunhofer Versatile Video Decoder (open source; decoder only)
    • Fraunhofer Versatile Video Encoder (open source; encoder only)
    • FFmpeg (decoder only)
  • Video Coding for Browsers (VCB)/VP8 (MPEG-4 Part 31, ISO/IEC 14496-31, RFC 6386)
    • libvpx
    • FFmpeg
  • Internet Video Coding (ISO/IEC 14496-33, MPEG-4 IVC)
  • Essential Video Coding (EVC; MPEG-5 Part 1; under-development)
    • eXtra-fast Essential Video Encoder (open source; encoder only)
    • eXtra-fast Essential Video Decoder (open source; decoder only)
  • LCEVC, MPEG-5 Part 2 (Low Complexity Enhancement Video Coding)
• IETF Internet Draft (NETVC)
  • xvc^[55]
    • Divideon's reference implementation (open source)
  • Thor^[56] (forms the basis of AV1)
    • Cisco's reference implementation (open source)
• SMPTE standards:
  • VC-1 (SMPTE 421M, subset of Windows Media Video)
    • FFmpeg (decoder only)
  • Dirac (SMPTE 2042-1)
    • Schrödinger
    • dirac-research
    • FFmpeg (decoder only)
• Alliance for Open Media
  • AV1 (AOMedia Video 1)
    • libaom
    • SVT-AV1
    • rav1e (encoder only)
    • dav1d (decoder only)
    • libgav1 (decoder only)
• Xiph.Org Foundation
  • Daala (under development, basis (alongside other formats) of AV1)
    • libdaala (open source)
  • Theora (based on VP3)
    • FFmpeg (decoding only)
    • libtheora (open source)
• Apple Video (Apple RPZA)
  • QuickTime
  • FFmpeg
• Blackbird FORscene video codec
• Firebird^[57] Original FORscene video codec
• Digital Video Interactive standards:
  • RTV 2.1 (a.k.a. Indeo 2)
    • FFmpeg (decoder only)
  • PLV (Production Level Video)
    • ActionMedia II driver (decoder only)
• Indeo 3^[58]/4/5^[59]
  • FFmpeg (decoder only)
• Microsoft Video 1 (MSV1, MS-CRAM, based on MotiVE)
  • FFmpeg (decoder only)
• Open Media Commons standards:
  • OMS Video (based on H.261)
• On2 Technologies TrueMotion VP3/VP4, VP5, VP6, VP7; under the name The Duck Corporation: TrueMotion S, TrueMotion 2, TrueMotion RT 2.0
  • FFmpeg (decoder only)
• RealVideo 1, G2, 8, 9 and 10
  • FFmpeg
  • RealMedia HD SDK
• RealVideo Fractal Codec (a.k.a. Iterated Systems ClearVideo)
  • FFmpeg (decoder only)
• RealMedia HD (a.k.a. RealVideo 11)
  • RealMedia HD SDK
• Snow Wavelet Codec
• Sorenson Video,^[60] Sorenson Spark
  • FFmpeg
• VP9 by Google; VP10 was not released and instead was integrated into AV1
  • libvpx
  • FFmpeg
• Windows Media Video (WMV)
  • WAX (Part of the Windows Media Series)
  • FFmpeg
• Guobiao standards (GB/T)
  • Audio Video Standard (AVS)
    • AVS1-P2 (GB/T 20090.2-2006) - used in China Blue High-definition Disc.
      • FFmpeg (decoding only)
    • AVS1-P7 (AVS-M; under-development)
    • AVS2-P2 (GB/T 33475.2-2016, IEEE 1857.4 (draft))
      • uAVS2 Encoder
      • xavs2 (encoder only)
      • davs2 (libdavs2; decoder only)
    • AVS3-P2 (draft, IEEE1857.10)
      • uavs3e (encoder only)
      • uavs3d (decoder only)

Scalable

VP8,^[61] VP9,^[61] AV1,^[61] and H.266/VVC support scalable modes by default.

• Scalable Video Coding (H.264/SVC; an extension of H.264/MPEG-4 AVC)
• Scalable High Efficiency Video Coding (SHVC; an extension of H.265/HEVC)

Intra-frame-only

• Motion JPEG
  • FFmpeg
  • Morgan Multimedia M-JPEG^[62]
  • Pegasus PICVideo M-JPEG
  • MainConcept M-JPEG
• ISO/IEC standard
  • Motion JPEG 2000 (ISO/IEC 15444-3, ITU-T T.802)
    • libopenjpeg
    • FFmpeg
    • Morgan Multimedia M-JPEG2000^[63]
    • Morgan Multimedia dcpPlayer (decoder only)^[64]
  • JPEG XS (ISO/IEC 21122) Lightweight Low latency video codec
    • intoPIX fastTICO-XS^[65]
  • DV (IEC 61834)
    • FFmpeg
  • MPEG-4 SStP (ISO/IEC 14496-2)
    • FFmpeg^[66]
  • Motion JPEG XR (ISO/IEC 29199-3, ITU-T T.833)
  • Animated JPEG XL (ISO/IEC 18181)
    • libjxl^[67]
• Apple ProRes 422/4444
  • FFmpeg
• Apple Intermediate Codec
  • FFmpeg (decoder only)
• Apple Pixlet
  • FFmpeg (decoder only)
• AVC-Intra
  • x264 (encoder only)
  • FFmpeg (decoder only)
• AVC-Ultra – a subset of MPEG-4 AVC Hi444PP profile
• XAVC-I
• CineForm HD
  • CineForm-SDK  – developed by GoPro (open source)
  • FFmpeg
• SMPTE standard
  • VC-2 SMPTE standard (a.k.a. Dirac Pro. SMPTE ST 2042)
    • Schrödinger
    • dirac-research
    • VC-2 Reference Encoder and Decoder  – developed by BBC (open source)
    • FFmpeg (the encoder only supports VC-2 HQ profile)
  • VC-3 SMPTE standard (SMPTE ST 2019)
    • Avid DNxHD
    • FFmpeg
  • VC-5 SMPTE standard (SMPTE ST 2073; a superset of CineForm HD)
• Grass Valley HQ/HQA/HQX
  • Grass Valley Codec Option
  • FFmpeg (decoder only)
• NewTek NT25
• NewTek SpeedHQ - used in Network Device Interface (NDI) protocol
  • NewTek Codec^[68]
  • FFmpeg

Stereoscopic 3D

• Multiview Video Coding

Security and surveillance cameras

• Guobiao standards (GB/T)
  • AVS-S-P2 (suspended^[69])
  • SVAC (GB/T 25724-2010)
• Infinity CCTV Codec (IMM4/IMM5/IMM6)
  • FFmpeg^[70][71] (IMM4 and IMM5 decoder only)

CD-ROM or CD-related video codecs

• CDXL codec
  • FFmpeg (decoder only)
• Cinepak^[72] (a.k.a. Apple Compact Video)
  • FFmpeg
• Photo CD codec
  • FFmpeg (decoder only)
• MotionPixels - used in MovieCD
  • FFmpeg (decoder only)
• CD+G (CD+Graphics) codec
  • FFmpeg (decoder only)
  • VLC (decoder only)
• CD+EG (CD+Extended Graphics) codec

Network video codecs

• SMPTE RDD
  • LLVC (Low Latency Video Codec; SMPTE RDD 34) - used in Networked Media Interface (NMI; SMPTE RDD 40)
• HEVC-SCC (Screen Content Coding Extensions)
• ZRLE (RFC 6143 7.7.6) - used by VNC
• Sun Microsystems's CellB video (RTP playload type 25) - used in Solaris's SunVideo Plus^[73] and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's vic (Video Conferencing Tool)^[74]
• Xerox PARC's Network Video (nv; RTP playload type 28) - used in Xerox's nv and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's vic (Video Conferencing Tool)
• CU-SeeMe video codec
• GoToMeeting codec
  • FFmpeg (decoder only)

Bayer video codecs

• CinemaDNG (created by Adobe; used in Blackmagic cameras)
• Redcode RAW (used in RED cameras) – a modified version of JPEG 2000^[75]
  • libredcode
• ArriRaw (used in Arri cameras)
• Cineform RAW (used in Silicon Imaging cameras)
  • CineForm-SDK
• Blackmagic RAW (used in Blackmagic cameras)
  • Blackmagic RAW SDK
• Cintel RAW (used in Cintel Scanner^[76])
  • FFmpeg (decoder only)
• Apple ProRes RAW
• intoPIX TICO RAW^[77]
  • intoPIX fastTICO-RAW SDK & TICO-RAW FPGA/ASIC libraries^[78]
• Canon CRX - used in Canon Cinema Raw Light movie
  • Canon RAW Plugin for Avid Media Access
  • LibRaw (decoder only; open source)

Video games

• Bink Video, Smacker video
  • FFmpeg
  • libavcodec
• Nintendo Mobiclip video codec
  • FFmpeg (decoder only)
• CRI Sofdec codec - a MPEG variant with 11-bit DC and color space correction;^[79] used in Sofdec middleware
• CRI P256 - used in Sofdec middleware for Nintendo DS^[80]
• Indeo Video Interactive (aka Indeo 4/5) - used in PC games for Microsoft Windows
  • FFmpeg (decoder only)
  • Intel Indeo Video

Real-time

• RivaTuner video codec (RTV1/RTV2)
  • FFmpeg (RTV1 decoder only)
• Hap/Hap Alpha/Hap Q
  • VIDVOX hap codec
  • FFmpeg
• DXV Codec
  • Resolume DXV Codec
  • FFmpeg
• NotchLC
  • FFmpeg (decoder only)
• VESA Display Stream Compression (DSC)
• VESA Display Compression-M (VDC-M)

See also

•  Free and open-source software portal

• List of open-source codecs
• Comparison of video codecs
• Comparison of audio coding formats
• Comparison of video container formats
• Comparison of graphics file formats
• Comparison of video player software
• RTP payload formats

References

1. FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec), Version 1.1.2 Library of Congress
2. "About lossless audio in Apple Music". 25 October 2021.
3. "BFDLAC: A Fast lossless Audio Compression Algorithm For Drum Sounds" (PDF).
4. "Lossless Audio Homepage". www.lossless-audio.com.
5. Shorten Lossless Audio Compression Format (SHN), Version 3.5.1 Library of Congress
6. "RK Audio - Hydrogenaudio Knowledgebase". wiki.hydrogenaud.io.
7. IPMR Speech Codec - draft-spiritdsp-ipmr-01.txt IETF
8. . Spirit DSP
9. 3GPP (2008-12-11) 3GPP TS 26.173 - AMR-WB speech Codec; version 8.0.0 Release 8, retrieved 2009-09-09
10. Release of sbc-1.1, BlueZ Project, April 30, 2013
11. PulseAudio 15 Released With Bluetooth Improvements, Better Hardware Support. Phoronix. July 28, 2021
12. PipeWire: Bluetooth support status update. Collabora. April 29, 2022
13. Integration of the aptX and aptX-HD codecs for A2DP source, Android Open Source Project, January 4, 2017
14. The contribution of LDAC encoder, Android Open Source Project, January 10, 2017
15. "What is LHDC". hwa-audio. Retrieved 2019-04-30.
16. "What is LLAC™?". LHDC org.^{[dead link]}
17. Speex Audio Codec, Version 1.2 Library of Congress
18. Finding voice codecs for free software. Linux.com. October 14, 2005
19. SILK Speech Codec - draft-vos-silk-02 IETF
20. Constrained-Energy Lapped Transform (CELT) Codec - draft-valin-celt-codec-02 IETF
21. . Archived from the original on August 23, 2016. Retrieved June 24, 2015.
22. RadioShack Digital Recorder OWNER'S MANUAL p.38. RadioShack. 2002.
23. HyperHyde Operation Manual. p.40. I-O DATA. 2000.
24. 3GPP (2008-12-11) 3GPP TS 26.073 - AMR speech Codec; version 8.0.0 Release 8, retrieved 2009-09-08.
25. 3GPP (2008-12-18) 3GPP TS 26.273 - AMR-WB+ speech Codec; version 8.0.0 Release 8, retrieved 2009-09-09
26. 3GPP TS 26.443. Codec for Enhanced Voice Services (EVS); ANSI C code (floating-point).
27. INFORMATION COLLECTION SURVEY FOR THE MEGA MANILA SUBWAY PROJECT IN THE REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES Japan International Cooperation Agency September, 2015
28. 東北上越新幹線デジタル列車 無線システムの開発 (in Japanese) East Japan Railway Company 2003
29. Obranovich, Charles R.; Golusky, John M.; Preuss, Robert D.; Fabbri, Darren R.; Cruthirds, Daniel R.; Aylward, Erin M.; Freebersyser, James A.; Kolek, Stephen R. (2010). "300 BPS noise robust vocoder". 2010 - Milcom 2010 Military Communications Conference. pp. 298–303. doi:10.1109/MILCOM.2010.5680311. ISBN 978-1-4244-8178-1. S2CID 8991597.
30. Actimagine allège le multimédia sur les terminaux portables (in French), IT Industrie & Technologies, June 25, 2004
31. AudioCompressionFormat, Unity Technologies
32. Audio Clip, Unity Technologies
33. , Microsoft
34. 【ひらブラ vol.37】音数を諦めず／音質を妥協せず／負荷を極小にする方法（iOS&Android） (in Japanese), Kadokawa Dwango, September 26, 2014
35. FMOD Studio 1.06 and FMOD at GDC expo program announced, Gamasutra, February 17, 2015
36. "Lossless". x265.readthedocs.io.
37. "HEVC Decoding". x265.
38. "FFmpeg Now Supports HEVC/H.265 Decoding". phoronix.
39. "Encode/H.265". FFmpeg.
40. Niedermayer, Michael; Rice, Dave; Martinez, Jérôme (August 2021). "rfc9043 - FFV1 Video Coding Format Version 0, 1, and 3". datatracker.ietf.org.
41. "Lossless Codec Libraries". multimedia.cx.
42. "FFmpeg: libavcodec/flashsv.c File Reference". ffmpeg.org.
43. "FRAPS show fps, record video game movies, screen capture software". www.fraps.com.
44. "Lagarith Lossless Video Codec". lags.leetcode.net.
45. "LOCO - MultimediaWiki". wiki.multimedia.cx.
46. "MagicYUV – Lossless video codec".
47. "ScreenPressor by Infognition - lossless video codec for screen capture". infognition.com.
48. "Downloads". TechSmith.
49. "#534 (Ut Video Support) – FFmpeg". ffmpeg.org.
50. "Ut Video Codec Suite - a new lossless video codec for Windows! [Archive] - Doom9's Forum". doom9.org.
51. "VBLE - MultimediaWiki". wiki.multimedia.cx.
52. "VMware Video". multimedia.cx.
53. "The WebM Project - VP8 Encode Parameter Guide". webmproject.org.
54. Medoff, Norman; Fink, Edward J. (September 10, 2012). Portable Video: ENG & EFP. CRC Press. p. 221. ISBN 9781136047701.
55. Samuelsson, J. and P. Hermansson (July 2, 2018). "The xvc video codec". datatracker.ietf.org.
56. Fuldseth, Arild; Bjontegaard, Gisle; Midtskogen, Steinar; Davies, Thomas; Zanaty, Mo (October 31, 2016). "Thor Video Codec". tools.ietf.org.
57. "Live demonstration". Forbidden.
58. Indeo Video Codec, Version 3 Library of Congress
59. Indeo Video Codec, Version 5 Library of Congress
60. Sorenson Video Codec, Version 3 Library of Congress
61. Scalable Video Coding (SVC) Extension for WebRTC - 4. Operational model, World Wide Web Consortium, September 26, 2020
62. "M-JPEG Codec". Montpellier, France: Morgan Multimedia. Retrieved April 28, 2018.
63. "M-JPEG2000 Codec". Montpellier, France: Morgan Multimedia. Retrieved April 28, 2018.
64. "dcpPlayer". Montpellier, France: Morgan Multimedia. Retrieved April 28, 2018.
65. "FastTICO-XS Codec". Mont-Saint-Guibert, Belgium: intoPIX.
66. FFmpeg-cvslog - mpeg4video: Add support for MPEG-4 Simple Studio Profile., FFmpeg Project, April 2, 2018
67. FFmpeg Adds Support For Animated JPEG-XL, Phoronix, June 8, 2023
68. NewTek
69. Achievement, Audio Video Coding Standard Workgroup of China
70. FFmpeg-cvslog - avcodec: add IMM4 decoder, FFmpeg Project, August 21, 2018
71. FFmpeg-cvslog - avcodec: add IMM5 decoder, FFmpeg Project, August 29, 2019
72. Cinepak Library of Congress
73. SunVideo Plus for PCI User's Guide - Audio Video Conferencing. Oracle
74. vic: Change History. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
75. libredcode
76. Cintel Scanner p.35. Blackmagic Design. May, 2020.
77. intoPIX Tico Raw is a format with a huge potential
78. intoPIX Tico Raw
79. (in Japanese) CRI Middleware, May 11, 2006
80. CRI・ミドルウェア、ゲーム開発者向けブログ「CRIチャンネル」を開設 (in Japanese) Impress Watch Corporation, April 19, 2007