AVC (H.264)

AVC (Advanced Video Coding), otherwise known as H.264, is a video coding format used widely to compress video data while maintaining video quality. It enables transmission of high-quality video signals without putting a heavy strain on bandwidth, making it a popular choice in television broadcasting, including satellite and cable. H.264 plays on virtually any device and delivers quality video streams.

H.264 is also the oldest video encoding format on our wiki list. Many predicted it would be obsolete by now. But when you factor in its processing power and cost, H.264 is hard to beat. Plus, the number of devices that can encode and decode H.264 can’t be beat — including IP cameras, set-top boxes, mobile devices, and low-power devices. H.264 is an efficient and widely adopted video compression technology used to contribute, distribute, and deliver streams. It lends especially well to low-latency workflows.

H.264 also has significant penetration into markets outside of streaming, such as Blu-ray disks and cable broadcasting. It is often incorporated with the AAC audio codec and can be packaged into .mp4, .mov, .F4v, .3GP, and .ts containers.