What is the difference between AVI, Mpg, VOB, etc..?

Question

I have been trying to get movies ripped into my computer so I can take scenes for my other no-linear editing hobby. I know about dvdencripter...that generally seems to work getting it onto my computer...but what format is best to use and why? How can I get the files into smaller peices so that my memory can handle it.

Answer 1

The AVI (Audio Video Interleave) format was developed by Microsoft.
The AVI format is supported by all computers running Windows, and by all the most popular web browsers. It is a very common format on the Internet, but not always possible to play on non-Windows computers.
Videos stored in the AVI format have the extension .avi.

The Windows Media format is developed by Microsoft.
Windows Media is a common format on the Internet, but Windows Media movies cannot be played on non-Windows computer without an extra (free) component installed. Some later Windows Media movies cannot play at all on non-Windows computers because no player is available.
Videos stored in the Windows Media format have the extension .wmv.

The MPEG (Moving Pictures Expert Group) format is the most popular format on the Internet. It is cross-platform, and supported by all the most popular web browsers.
Videos stored in the MPEG format have the extension .mpg or .mpeg.

The QuickTime format is developed by Apple.
QuickTime is a common format on the Internet, but QuickTime movies cannot be played on a Windows computer without an extra (free) component installed.
Videos stored in the QuickTime format have the extension .mov.

The RealVideo format was developed for the Internet by Real Media.
The format allows streaming of video (on-line video, Internet TV) with low bandwidths. Because of the low bandwidth priority, quality is often reduced.
Videos stored in the RealVideo format have the extension .rm or .ram.

The Shockwave (Flash) Format was developed by Macromedia.
The Shockwave format requires an extra component to play. This component comes preinstalled with the latest versions of Netscape and Internet Explorer.
Videos stored in the Shockwave format have the extension .swf.

Answer 2

avi or audio-video interleave, lives up to it's name be interleaving the audio and video tracks into one format.

.mpg is the extension used by the Motion Pictures Experts Group who first created the digital movie formats.

.mpeg is the first codec [compression decompression] software they made, Needless to say, .mpg stands for Motion Pictures Group.

I guess you can figure out the meanings of MP2, MP3 etc, now.

.vob or Versioned Object Base is just a basic MPEG-2 system stream -- meaning that it is a file that contains multiplexed MPEG-2 video stream, audio streams (normally AC3 and DTS formats) and subtitle streams.

Hope this helped you understand these extensions better.

Now, as to what format is best to use on your comp and why, the answer is self evident, isn't it? avi, by interleaving the audio and video streams, reduces space, while maintaining optimum quality; so, it's the best choice, don't you think?

Another codec that's available now, which I think you should learn about is the DivX! That's also a good thing to work on.

Now, the last question is a bit confusing, I must say, because, if you want it in "pieces", that's what vob is all about; but then, the files are gargantuan. And what "memory" are we talking about? RAM? You know very well that any graphics editing eats up a lot of RAM, be it in any format. So, the only alternative is for you to upgrade your RAM capacity.

Hope this helped.

All the best.

Cheers.

Answer 3

AVI is a format invented by Windows
Mpeg is a format invented by the same group of "geeks" who made the jpeg picture format
Either can be used for doing video editing. Your preference. Mpeg files tend to be a little smaller.
VOB is a format specific to DVD players. You create your video in either Mpeg or AVI, and then it is convert to VOB when it is burn to a DVD.
Use a video editing software to cut the files into smaller pieces. Many video programs include a "scene cutting" feature where it takes a long clip and divides it into a series of short clips based on scene changes. (It is not smart enough to actual understand the movie and divide it by logical scenes. It considers any major change in the picture to be a scene change.)

Answer 4

Yahoo Answers is not the best place to get into this,

Might I suggest you go here, and ask your question there?
http://forum.doom9.org