3G2 is an audio and video format developed by Third Generation Partnership Project for CDMA-based (Code Division Multiple Access) phones. Actually it is an updated version of the 3GP file extension. Both formats are based on the ISO base media file format that facilitates presentation and interchange of the media. The 3G2 format is flexible and requires little storage space that is why it is mostly used by cell phones for saving files. However 3G2 movies can be played on computers but in some cases additional applications may be needed.

3GP is a multimedia container developed by Third Generation Partnership Project in 1998 for GSM-based (Global System for Mobile Communications) phones. The container requires little bandwidth, storage space and data usage that is why it is ideal for cell phones. It is a standard container for the files sent using MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service).

AAF is a format created for storing results of nonlinear post-production video processing. AAF is a non-linear editing analog of EDL format. It is cross-platform interoperable and designed to replace OMFI, so a wide variety of manufacturers support AAF in their authoring software. AAF encapsulates metadata, program content and its history, source elements, remote online content, rich set of built-in standard media effects, HTML/XML content and localizations.

ASF is a media container used by Microsoft Windows Media Player. It was designed for streaming audio and video files online. The container determines the structure of the data stream but not how the data should be encoded. Usually the files encoded by Microsoft developers have the .wma or .wmv extensions, other files have .asf extension. Such files generally have MIME type that allows sending files via the internet. The main feature of the ASF is the ability to stream playback, that is the ability to play a video or audio directly at the time of downloading data over the network.

AV1 is a new open codec developed by Alliance for Open Media consisting of companies that produces electronics and develops web browsers. The codec is aimed to send high-quality videos via the internet quickly and without losing the quality even when bandwidth is low. AV1 is more efficacious then today's most popular video formats because it uses future compression technology.

AVCHD is a video codec designed for recording high definition videos in 720p, 1080i and 1080p modes on such rewritable discs as Blu-Ray and AVCHD, hard disks and memory cards. The AVCHD standard implies using of AVC video compression format, AC3 audio codec and MTS or M2TS file extension. The main feature of the codec is high compression efficiency together with high image quality. But here comes the main flaw – the codec is really heavy for playback.

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.

CAVS is a set of coding/decoding standards developed by Workgroup of China in 2002. The technology is aimed to resolve problems of audio and video compression, namely original data and sources. This format is not widely supported on a PC, but is widely used for DVD-players and home theater systems in China.

DivX is a progressive implementation of the MPEG-4 format. It offers a significantly higher degree of video compression (comparing to another H.263 video codecs) and carries a number of revolutionary innovations of that time. To playback DivX files on PC, you can use many different programs because currently most video players support DivX even in FullHD resolution. For viewing such files in modern browsers the company developed DivX Web Player. However, the H.263 standard (which DivX implements) was created in 1996 and is currently considered obsolete. It was replaced by the H.264 and H.265 standards that are implemented in more progressive codecs such as HEVC and AV1.

DV is a digital format of magnetic video recording and a type of video compression developed by the major video equipment manufacturers in 1995. The DV format uses an 8-bit digital component video signal with a resolution of 720×576 pixels. Data transfer is made in the form of a DIF-sequence that contains video, audio and subcode data. Date and time are recorded in the service area.

F4V is a Flash Video format supported by Adobe Flash Player software and all browsers with flash video playback. The container uses boxes for data storage and it is compatible with h.264 video and AAC audio compression standards. F4V files provide better quality than FLV but need a newer version of Flash (9.0.115 or higher) and a faster processor.

FLV is a Flash Video container used on popular hosting sites that stores audio, video and other data. It often uses h.264 or h.263 codecs for video storage and MP3 for audio. There are a lot of programs for both Windows and Mac operating systems that are able to open .flv files.

HEVC or h.265 is the most advanced codec for now because it has the lowest bitrate without losing the image quality. The codec has three main features that distinguishes it from others: parallel decoding, random access to images within the video stream and larger maximum block size. HEVC is aimed to offer the same level of video quality as AVC (h.264), but with improved compression, that is why a video file compressed with the codec will be twice smaller.

M2TS is a file name for BDAV (Blu-ray Disc Audio-Video) format developed by Japanese companies in 2006. It is used for high definition audio and video streaming on Blu-Ray Disc and AVCHD. M2TS can be opened by all popular media players such as Windows Media Player.

M2V is a format containing only video data, audio is stored in other accompanied file. The extension is widely used in DVDs and video compression systems. Actually it is an MPEG-2 video stream. M2V is also used in digital TV where serves as a standard that defines the structure of transport streams and data transmission methods.

M4V is a video container that stores audio and video data used for iTunes files. Files of this type may be protected from illegal viewing and copying with Apple FairPlay DRM. In this case audio or video files should be bought in iTunes store. Not protected files can be viewed almost in any modern player because the format is based on MPEG-4 structure.

MJPEG is a format of multimedia data, which uses a frame-by-frame video track compression technology JPEG. This codec does not encode the difference (movement) between frames, whereby the image in some places does not turn out smooth enough. The main advantage of this format is the low requirements to hardware computational power, which, in turn, leads to a low level of compression and a larger resulting file size. It is actively used in web and IP-cameras.

MKV is an open source container that can contain media data compressed with a use of different codecs. It has a lot of advantages over the legacy AVI container: it can contain audio tracks and subtitles in different languages, that can be switched without stopping the playback, file seek and rewind are very fast. Also the format is easy to edit, that is why audio and video data can be extracted effortlessly.

MOD is a format containing MPEG-2 video and AC3 audio. The extension is rarely used, that is why it can be opened only with special programs. Also MOD files can be playback by DVD players. If you want to open it with a standard player, the easiest way is to convert the file to MPG. Usually the format is used by Panasonic and JVC for recording video, the data is saved to a hard disk or SD card.

MOV is a format developed by Apple and used for movie and other video data storage. It is compatible both with Windows and Mac. However, Windows Media Player can open only early versions of the file extension. If you have versions 2.0 and higher, you need Apple QuickTime Player or you can convert it to other format compatible with your player.

MP4 is an extension defined by MPEG-4 video standard and AAC audio standard. It is a container that supports all kinds of media such as video, audio, subtitles, 2D and 3D graphics. It is possible to open MP4 file with almost any player on Windows but on Mac you should use a plug-in or just convert the file to another format.

MPEG was developed in 1993 as MPEG-1 and it was a very popular format for audio and video storage. Today it is the most compatible media format in the world. When the format first appeared, it was innovate and ahead of its time, provided relatively high quality files while reducing their size and made it easy to upload and download files by compressing them. These features allowed creating video CDs, digital TV and digital audio broadcasting. Due to its age, MPG is no longer covered by any patents, that is why both Mac and Windows applications along with many hardware support MPEG video and audio natively.

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).

MPG is an extension used for files compressed with MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 standard. MPG files can be played on Windows, Mac and any mobile devices. The first versions of this format were significantly limited, supporting low video resolution and limiting data bandwidth, but latest standard updates allows it to be used even in HDTV broadcasting.

MTS is a high definition video extension developed by Sony and Panasonic companies for their high-definition consumer video cameras. Later these companies joined their forces in the Blu-ray Disc Association. AVCHD technology supports 720p and 1080i resolution. The format uses MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 codec for video compression and Dolby Digital AC-3 for audio compression. Blu-Ray players can playback MTS videos without compression.

MXF is a media container developed by SMPTE association for professional use. MXF implements subset of Advanced Authoring Format (AAF) data model and nowadays become a standard in professional non-linear video editing. MXF files can be compressed with almost any codec and easily converted to any popular video format. Worth noting that Sony's, Panasonic's and Canon's implementation of this format carries a lot of incompatibilities, that was a big flaw of this container. These issues were addressed in the 2009 version of the standard.

OGV is a container that uses OGG open source format. OGG is unrestricted of software patents which was one of the main goals of its creation. OGV file extension is used to store video stream with or without audio which in turn may be compressed with the Opus, Vorbis, Theora or Speex algorithm. The format is used to play video content on web pages with the help of HTML5. OGV files can be played by wide variety of media players.

RM is a proprietary video container created by RealNetworks Inc. – the pioneers in streaming media over the internet market. This format supports DRM and was widely used to stream video and audio data online in the early 2000s with more than 80% of online streaming was in the RealMedia format. RM is supported by iPhone, Android, Windows and Mac. This container is often used by online radio stations. Nowadays it is still necessary to install Real Player plugin to be able to play RM files on such streaming websites.

RMVB is a file format with a variable bitrate developed by RealNetworks. Actually it is an improved version of RM format. It gives greater bandwidth to videos that are difficult to compress. The extension keeps a high video definition. RMVB files are very popular in Asia and they are not supported by all popular players, so the easiest way to playback them is to convert them to another most common format.

SWF is a format designed to store vector graphics and animation, it may contain sound, video, text and other data. Such files are widely used for creating animation, games and playing video and audio on web pages. It is possible to open SWF files with Adobe Flash Player or with a browser that has the flash plugin installed.

TOD is a file format that is not widely used. TOD videos are usually captured by JVC cameras. It is a high-definition format that uses transport stream for video data. TOD files cannot be directly played on consumer video equipment. They must be converted or repacked into one of the widely adopted distribution format.

TS is an extension defined by MPEG-2 standard. It is usually used for storing video and audio on DVDs, for streaming media online and broadcasting. This media container consists of elementary streams stored in a way that allow quick playback resume and audio/video synchronization after an error in data transfer was encountered.

VOB is a format for DVD files that are usually stored in the VIDEO_TS folder. VOB is based on MPEG-2 and it can contain video, audio, subtitles and other data. Each file should be less than 1 GB to be compatible with all operating systems, otherwise they will not be read.

WebM is an open media container compressed with VP8 video codec and Vorbis audio codec. WebM format has high video playback quality and data compression parameters.The format is widely used for adding media to web pages and it is supported by all modern web-browsers like Opera, Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome. The embedding of WebM videos to a site page realizes without delays and errors. WebM is meant to be an alternative to the h.264 standard. The copyright of the extension is held by Google.

WMV is a codec usually used for video compression in ASF format. It is possible to open WMV files both on Mac and Windows with almost any player or convert the format to another one. WMV supports DRM protection that prevent users from copying information. It is the main reason why the format is widely used by companies that sell digital video and audio online. Also the format is well-known among users because WMV files are used on popular Xbox 360 devices. Low bitrate makes such files an ideal solution for HD DVD and Blu-ray discs.

WTV is a format for videos recorded by Windows Media Center where video is encoded by MPEG-2, MPEG-4 or h.264 and audio – by MPEG-1 Layer II or Dolby Digital AC-3. WTV file can contain video, audio, text and other data. The container replaced DVR-MS that was used by previous versions of the Windows program. WTV supports DRM that allows protection of the content by its owner.

XviD is a codec based on the MPEG-4 standard. The codec distorts colors but it has high definition in dynamic scenes. XviD is constantly updating because it is an open source codec and anyone who is interested can participate in the development of the program. Using XviD may be illegal in some countries because the compression methods used in MPEG-4 are patented.