MPEG-2 is a video coding format, first standardized in 1995 and revised in 2013. Due to relatively low computational complexity this standard gained popularity and massive native implementations in video hardware. Hence MPEG-2 has actually become a standard in satellite and cable broadcasting. MPEG-2 is also used for creating DVDs for the same reasons (native hardware support by DVD players).

AVI is a multimedia container that is very popular among PC and Mac users. The format was developed by Microsoft in 1992. Usually AVI is used as a video format but unlike other formats of that time, AVI may contain both audio and video data compressed with a use of different combinations of codecs. More often such video codecs as DivX and XVID are used with .avi files. For audio playback such codecs as MP3, AC3 and PCM are used. It is possible to play AVI files with Windows Media Player or other similar programs.