Codec

Codec stands for coder and decoder and is a system that encapsulates both encoding and decoding of information (as opposed to two separate systems). In computing terms, it is a software library or utility that performs the encoding and decoding on raw data, into and out of whatever format the codec supports. This article focuses on video codecs.

= Converting video files = To convert video files from one format (codec) to another, use the command ffmpeg.

= Playing video files = No matter what codec your video file has, it can be played with mplayer.

= Common codecs = There are a large number of video formats, and corresponding codecs.

For examples see:


 * MPEG
 * AVI
 * MOV (and QuickTime)
 * XviD
 * DivX

= How can I find out the codec? = You can find out the codec of a file by starting konqueror, click on your "home" icon and chose View|View Mode|Info List View. For every file that has a codec, you get shown what codec it is.

= See also =
 * Installing codecs
 * File Formats
 * video Conversion