The following is a list of codecs.

Audio codecs

Main article: Audio codec

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

Main article: 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

Main article: 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

Main article: Speech encoding

(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.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

Main article: Ogg Writ

Video codecs

Main article: Video codec

Lossless compression

• CorePNG
• Huffyuv
• Lagarith
• LCL
• MSU Lossless Video Codec
• SheerVideo
• TSCC TechSmith Screen Capture Codec
• ZMBV (Zip Motion Block Video) Codec

Lossy compression

• Audio Video Standard (AVS)
• Blackbird FORscene video codec
• Cinepak
• Dirac
• Firebird[1] 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

Free software portal

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

External links

• Subjective codec comparison
• 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, ...)
• Interactive blind listening tests of audio codecs over the internet