H.264

H.264: Also known as H.264/AVC (Advanced Video Encoding)/MPEG-4. Popular compression standard for encoding digital video. Although it is lossy compression, H.264 is more efficient than earlier MPEG-2 retaining significant quality of video while keeping file sizes relatively small. H.264 is a codec standard for encoding Blu-ray Discs as well as for video on Apple’s Itunes store and is commonly used to compress video delivered as a Quicktime MOV file. Proprietary applications include AVCHD, a format created by Sony and Panasonic, which utilizes H.264 compression, as well as AVC-Intra also developed by Panasonic. [ Video Glossary ]