2.2. Compression, codecs, containers and video players
2.2.3. What is a container?
As we have explained above, a container is like a box or package that keeps the content of a video file, which mainly contains audio, video and text data. These are grouped into a single file for the user’s convenience.
The order in which this content is stored in this file is the specification of the container. There are different types. The following table lists some of the most common containers:
| Container format | Description |
| .AVI | This format is one of the best known and most commonly used containers, mainly to store series, movies and other similar videos. AVI was released in 1992 and was undoubtedly the video export file par excellence, because it was fully compatible with Windows, Apple, Linux, Unix, etc.
Currently, it is one of the most standard formats used with Windows. In terms of disadvantages, the memory used to store audio and video information is large. Another disadvantage would be the playback. As it is an old format, it has been updated with codecs, so older players can no longer read these updated formats and vice versa. It is also not suitable for streaming videos. |
| .MOV | This standard developed by Apple allows the transmission and playback of high-quality visual content on the Internet on both Apple and Windows operating systems. Quicktime comes with its own built-in player and has become a player that recognises most of today’s video files since version 7. |
| .MP4 | An MPG video format with global support. Low-loss audio and video compression makes it possible to easily download these files on a website. MP4 is capable of storing audio, video, subtitles, text and still images. It is the best choice for use on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter. |
| .FLV (Flash Video) | Although this software format was extremely popular between 2002 and 2008 for creating animations, games and other interactive content on the web, it fell into disuse due to security concerns. Flash-based video players have become obsolete as web browsers no longer support Flash Player and have turned to other technologies, such as HTML5, for video playback. |
| .MKV (Matroska) | The MKV format is a format mainly used for movies, series and 3D content. It supports an unlimited number of picture, audio and subtitle tracks. The container is similar to MOV and AVI files, except that it has a much larger storage capacity. It is an all-in-one video format, although it has slightly less device and platform compatibility compared to MP4. |
You have a complete guide of the characteristics of the media container formats that are mainly used to store or deliver digital video or digital audio content. To see which media players support which container formats, see the media player comparison table linked below.