Video Standards Comparison
Quick and dirty table showing all relevant video standards.
Format |
VCD
|
SVCD
|
DVD
|
DivX
XviD WMV |
MOV
|
ASF
SMR nAVI |
RM
|
DV
|
|
Resolution NTSC PAL |
352×240 352×288 |
480×480 480×576 |
720×480 720×576² |
640×480² |
640×480² |
320×240² |
320×240² |
720×480 720×576 |
|
Video Compression |
MPEG1 |
MPEG2 |
MPEG2, MPEG1 |
MPEG4 |
Sorenson, Cinepak, MPEG4 |
MPEG4 |
RM |
DV |
|
Video bitrate kbit/sec |
1150 kbit/s |
2500 kbit/s |
~9000 kbit/s |
>~1000 kbit/s |
~2000 kbit/s |
~500 kbit/s |
~500 kbit/s |
25 Mbit/s |
|
Audio Compression |
MP1 |
MP1 |
MP1, MP2, AC3, DTS, PCM |
MP3, WMA, OGG, AAC, AC3 |
Sorenson, Cinepak, MP3 |
MP3, WMA |
RM |
DV |
|
Audio bitrate kbit/sec |
224 kbit/s |
128 ~384 kbit/s |
192 ~448 kbit/s |
64 ~448 kbit/s |
64 ~192 kbit/s |
64 ~128 kbit/s |
64 ~128 kbit/s |
1000 ~1500 kbit/s |
|
Size/min |
10 MB/min |
10 – 20 MB/min |
30 – 70 MB/min |
1 – 10 MB/min |
1 – 20 MB/min |
1 – 5 MB/min |
1 – 5 MB/min |
216 MB/min |
|
Min/74min CD |
74min |
35-60min |
15-20min |
60-180min |
60-180min |
120-300min |
120-300min |
3min |
|
Hours/DVDR |
N/A |
N/A |
2-4hrs (3-7hrsª) |
13-26hrs |
13-26hrs |
26-40hrs |
26-40hrs |
20min |
|
DVD Player Compatibility |
Great |
Good |
Excellent |
Few |
None |
None |
None |
None |
|
Computer CPU Usage |
Low |
High |
Very High |
Very High |
High |
Low |
Low |
High |
|
Quality |
Good |
Great* |
Excellent* |
Great* |
Great* |
Decent* |
Decent* |
Excellent |
² approximately resolution, it can be higher or lower
~ approximately bitrate, it can be higher or lower
ª DVD with lower video quality, similiar to VCD/SVCD video quality
* the video quality depends on the bitrate and the video resolution, higher bitrate and higher resolution generally means better video quality but bigger file size