3GP Format (.3gp)
This audio and video format is a low resolution format that is suitable for playbackon Smartphones and other cell phones.

3GP2
Audio and video format for transmitting multimedia files over the Internet

AAC Format (aac)
A new MPEG sound format.

ASF Format (.asf)
ASF stands for Advanced Streaming Format because it is designed to be viewed while it downloads (streams) from the Internet. This is one of the formats used by Windows Media Player. It is a file format that has audio and video streams and is designed to run over networks like the Internet. It  contains streamin gaudio, video, slide shows, and synchronized events. The video and audio streams can be compressed using various compressors (MCMP, JPEG, MCMW, MJ2K, H263, H264, MPEG-2,MPEG-1, MPEG-4, Vorbis, MP3, AC3, AAC, and many others). Each compressed file needs a decompressor to be played or converted. This means that just because two files have the same extension they may not be similar. You might be able to play one ASFfile because you have its decompressors but you might not be able to play anotherbecause you do not have its decompressors. See also:

AU Format
AU is an audio format used for sound clips on the Internet.

Audio Balance
Controls the audio volume coming from the left speaker versus the volume coming from the right speaker. Whenever you increase the volume coming out of one speaker you decrease the volume coming out of the other speaker. If you want to increase/decrease the volume coming out of both speakers, change the audio volume.

Audio Codec
Software component that compresses and decompresses audio. Codec stands for COmpressor and DECompressor.

Audio Decompressor
oftware component which decompresses audio. It must be designed to work with ACM or DirectShow. Note that different compression methods require different decompressors. There is no universal decompressor capable of decoding all compressed streams.

Audio Renderer
The audio device that will play the sound. This is usually your sound card. Some computers have more than one sound playback device. You choose which sound playback device will play the sound by selecting the corresponding audio renderer.

Audio Stream
The portion of the file holding the audio data. The audio data might be compressed to save disk space. The data has to be decompressed using an audio decompressor before you can play (hear) it.

AVC Format (.avc)
AVC stands for Advanced Video Coding using the (ISO/IEC 14496-10/AVC) standard, a codec for video signals.

AVI Format (.avi)
AVI (Audio Video Interleave) is a file format defined by Microsoft. It is the most common format for audio/video data on PCs. AVI files can have one or more video streamsand one or more audio streams. The video and audio streams can be compressed using various compressors (MCMP, JPEG, MCMW, MJ2K, H263, H264, MPEG-2, MPEG-1, MPEG-4,Vorbis, MP3, AC3, AAC, and many others). Each compressed file needs a decompressor to be played or converted. This means that even though two files have the same extension they may not be similar. You might be able to play one AVI file because you have its decompressors, but you might not be able to play another because you do not have its decompressors. Or you might have the audio decompressor but not the video decompressor--in which case, you would hear the audio, but not the video. You need to have both the audio and video decompressors to play back both streams.

Chapter
The name for each individual video file on a DVD. For example, under the title \"Water Skiing\", you might have the chapters  \"My first try,\" \"My first wreck,\" and \"My first jump.\"

Close Caption Stream
The portion of the file holding the close captioning data. This is usually the subtitles. The text at the bottom of the movie that displays the words for the audio in the movie.

Codec
A COmpressor combined with a DECompressor, or encoder and a decoder, which allows you to both compress and decompress that same data.

Compressor
Also known as an encoder, this is a module or algorithm to compress data. Playing that data back requires a decompressor, or decoder.

dB (decibel)
Logarithmic unit of measure for sound. The more decibels a sound has, the louder the sound.

Decoder
Also known as a decompressor, this is a module or algorithm to decompress data.

Decompressor
Also known as a decoder, this is a module or algorithm to decompress data.

DICOM Format (.dic)
The DICOM file format is used in the medical and healthcare industry for patientrecords and is a high resolution grayscale image format. For more information, referto the DICOM Standard, published by the National Electrical Manufacturers Association,1300 N. 17th Street, Rosslyn, Virginia 22209 USA

DirectShow
Microsoft® DirectShow® is an extensible, filter-based framework, based on the Microsoft® Windows®  Component Object Model (COM), that provides a common interface for mediaacross many of Microsoft's programming languages. Most video-related Windows applications, such as Microsoft's Windows Media Player,  Winamp, and Windows Movie Maker, use DirectShow to manage multimedia content.

DivX Format (.avi)
DivX is a codec used to compress many AVI and ASF files you find over the Internet. You will need a DivX decoder to convert those files.

DV
DV stands for Digital Video and has been defined in \"Specification of Consumer-use Digital VCRs\" (aka the Blue Book).

DVD Burner
The driver that writes the data (burns the data) to the DVD. It is the software that burns the DVD image to the physical media.

DVD Image
A set of files that contain all of the video and audio content for a DVD, organized with a table of contents (optional). See also: Title, Chapter, ISO Image.

DVSD AVI Format (AVI)
Standard digital video (DV) audio/video format encapsulated in an AVI encoded stream.

DVSD OGG Format (OGG)
Standard digital video (DV) audio/video format encapsulated in an OGG encoded stream.

Encoder
Also known as compressor, this is a module or algorithm to compress data. Playing that data back requires a decompressor, or decoder.

FLV
Flash Video format to view video over the Internet using Adobe Flash Player

IFO Format (.ifo)
A file that stores information about DVD Chapters, Subtitles and Audio Tracks. The \"table of contents\" for your DVD.

ISO Image
An ISO image (.iso) is a disk image of a file system. It includes data files that are contained in the ISO image along with filesystem metadata. ISO images are an alternative to physical media for distribution of a \"DVD\" over the Internet. Most operating systems allow ISO images images to be \"played\" as if they were physical discs. See also: DVD Image.

LEAD AAC Audio Codec
The LEAD AAC Audio Encoder and Decoder are DirectShowÒ filters for compressing and decompressing audio data using the AAC compression standard (ISO/IEC 13818-7). AAC delivers high quality audio at lower bitrate compared to other audio encoding standards like ISO/MPEG Audio Layer-3; MP3.

LEAD AC3
The LEAD AC3 Audio Codec is a DirectShow filter that supports the encoding of audio streams using the AC3 standard. The LEAD AC3 encoder provides options to control the quality and the number of output channels. AC3 is a 5.1 format, which means that it provides five full bandwidth channels: front left, front right, center, surround left, and surround right. A low-frequency effect (LFE) channels is included for the sound needed for special effects and action sequences in movies. AC3 also has a downmixing feature that ensures compatibility with devices that do not support the 5.1 format.

LEAD H264
LEAD H264 is a DirectShow filter for compressing and decompressing Video data using the H264/AVC standard. H264 is the latest video standard developed jointly by ITUand MPEG. H264/AVC provides a far more efficient algorithm for compressing video.It typically outperforms all existing standards by a factor of three to four especiallyin comparison to MPEG-2.

LEAD MCMW Encoder
This encoder is fast, and good for high compression capture. At high compression, the image becomes blurry rather than blocky. This is a proprietary encoder developed by LEAD Technologies, Inc.

LEAD MPEG-4
LEAD MPEG-4 is a DirectShow filter for compressing/decompressing video data usingthe MPEG-4 (ISO/IEC 14496-2) standard. MPEG-4 is suitable for a wide range of bandwidths, from low bandwidth to broadband.

LEAD Mux
A proprietary multiplexer which allows you to create Windows Media files.  A multiplexer is a module that puts together the audio and video in a file. It  uses Microsoft codecs to compress the data, but LEAD’s multiplexer to combine the audio and video.

MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) Stream
An Audio stream with MIDI commands. MIDI is a communications interface between digital musical instruments. It is composed of simple commands that can control keyboards and other devices. For example, when a person presses a key on a keyboard it sends a MIDI note-on command. It can also send the velocity at which the key was pressed. You can also send program change information to switch to another keyboard with a different sound. MIDI does not send audio data through its cables. It was simply invented to controlmultiple synthesizer modules from a single keyboard.Since these files do not contain music, only the commands to re-create music, these files are smaller than audio files like MP3, WMA, or WAV files.

MP1 Format (.mp1)
MPEG-1 audio, layer 1.

MP2 Format (.mp2)
MPEG audio, layer 2.

MP3 Format (.mp3)
The MP3 file format is the most popular format for music files and uses lossy compression, resulting in small file sizes.

MP4 Format (.mp4)
These files have the extension \".mp4\". Can contain H264 or MPEG-4 compressed videostream with AAC audio. This format supports both audio and video files. MPEG-4 issuitable for a wide range of bandwidths from low bandwidth to broadband.

MPEG Format (.mpg, .mpeg, mp4, mp2)
MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) formats have the extension .mpg or .mpeg. MPEG files can have one or more video streams and one or more audio streams. The video streams are compressed using MPEG-2 compression scheme. The audio streams are compressed using the MPEG audio or AC3 compression scheme. Each compressed file needs a decompressor to be played or converted. This means that just because two files have the same extension they may not be similar. If you have an MPEG-2 video decoder you will be able todecode most MPEG-2 videos but since MPEG files can contains two types of audio, you may not be able to play all MPEG files unless you have both AC3 and MPEG audio decoders.

MPEG Splitter
DirectShow filter which breaks the MPEG stream into audio and video.

MPEG1 System
This format supports both audio and video files.

MPEG2 Program
This format supports both audio and video files. It is higher quality than MPEG1 and is the standard used for DVD compression.

MPEG4 Format (.mp4)
This audio and video format is suitable for playback on Smartphones.

Multiplexer
A module that combines audio and video into one file.

OGG Format (.ogg)
OGG is the name of Xiph.org's container format for audio, video, and metadata. Its default audio compressor is called Vorbis. Vorbis compression offers better quality than MP3 and yields a higher compression ratio. Ogg Vorbis is different from other formats because it is completely free, open, and unpatented. OGG files can have oneor more video streams and one or more audio streams. The video and audio streams can be compressed using various compressors (MCMP, JPEG, MCMW, MJ2K, H263, H264,MPEG-2, MPEG-1, MPEG-4, Vorbis, MP3, AC3, AAC and many others). Each compressed file will need a decompressor to be played or converted. This means that even though two files have the same extension they may not be similar. You might be able to play one OGG file because you have its decompressors, but you might not be able to play another because you do not have its decompressors. Or you might have the audio decompressor but not the video decompressor-- in such a case, you would hear the audio, but not the video. You need to have both the audio and video decompressors to play back both streams.

QuickTime 2.0 (.mov)
QuickTime is a file format for storing and playing back movies with sound. In Windows,QuickTime files usually appear with the .MOV filename extension.

Target Format
The format to be used for the converted file. This includes the file format, any special settings used by that format, and which audio and/or video codec is to be used for the conversion, and any special settings used by the codecs.

Timecode
SMPTE timecode, more properly known as SMPTE time and control code, is a series of digital frame address values, flags and additional data applied to a video or audio stream, and is defined in ANSI/SMPTE 12-1986. Its purpose is to provide a machine-readable address for video and audio. These are usually measured in seconds and they measure the time elapsed from the beginning of the file. It is a term describing the number you see on the VCR while you are playing a tape.

Title
The name for a group of related video files (called \"Chapters\") on your DVD. For example, for a DVD called \"My Summer Vacation,\" you might have the titles \"Water Skiing,\" \"New Friends,\" and \"Hiking.\" For each of those titles, you might have one or more different video files.

Video Codec
Software component that compresses and decompresses video. Codec stands for Compressor and Decompressor.

Video Decompressor
Software component that decompresses video. It must be designed to work with VFW or DirectShow. Note that different compression methods require different decompressors. There is no universal decompressor capable of decoding all compressed streams.

Video Renderer
The DirectShow component responsible for playing the video. Some renderers might have useful settings you can adjust if you have problems playing the video.

Video Stream
The portion of the file holding the video data. The video data might be compressed to save disk space. The data has to be decompressed using a video decompressor before you can play (see) it.

WAV Format (.wav)
The WAVE file format is used to store digital audio data in raw form and is a standard CD quality audio format that requires a large amount of memory (10 MB for 1 minute).

Windows Media Audio (.wma)
This is an audio format used on the internet. It was developed by Microsoft and isused in applications like portable digital audio players, where memory is a constraint. It is an Advanced Systems Format (.asf) file that is compressed with the WindowsMedia Audio (WMA) codec.

Windows Media Format and Certification
Microsoft controls the process of creating Windows Media Formats. M2Convert can use the Windows Media Codecs originated from Microsoft. These must be installed on your computer. You can get these codecs through Windows Media Player, by downloading a codec pack from Microsoft or through some other product. If you are having problems creating Windows Media Formats, we recommend you install the latest version of Windows Media Player.

Windows Media Video (.wmv, .wma, .asf)
WMV (Windows Media Video) is a file format developed by Microsoft. WMV files have audio and video streams. The video and audio streams can be compressed using various compressors (MCMP, JPEG, MCMW, MJ2K, H263, H264, MPEG-2, MPEG-1, MPEG-4, Vorbis, MP3, AC3, AAC,and many others). If you cannot play the file then you do not have the codec to decompress the file. If you cannot play the file, then the file cannot be converted.

WMV for SmartPhones Format
The WMV for SmartPhones format is a Windows Media format especially for Smartphones that can play Windows Media files. These files will have the extension \".wmv\". This format supports audio and video. It is recommended to install the latest version of Windows Media Player.