Overview: Common containers

Media container families define different ways to package tracks, metadata and navigation information.

An extension is a useful clue about packaging, not a complete inventory of the encoded content. The families below differ in the structures and conventions they use, and some impose narrower combinations than a general-purpose container. Their individual pages connect those choices to inspection, seeking and playback compatibility.

• Matroska family
  Matroska and WebM share a container foundation while defining different permitted media combinations and conventions.

• ISO base media and QuickTime
  ISO base media and QuickTime formats use related structural ideas to organize timed media and its supporting metadata.

• AVI
  Audio Video Interleave stores audio and video chunks in a RIFF-based file structure with stream headers and optional indexes.

• ASF
  Advanced Systems Format stores synchronized audio, video, and metadata in an object-based container associated with Windows Media.

• MPEG systems
  MPEG systems containers multiplex timed elementary streams in arrangements suited to different storage and delivery conditions.

• Ogg
  Ogg encapsulates codec packets in pages that support continuous delivery, logical streams, and codec-specific timing.

• Audio-oriented containers
  Audio-oriented containers organize sample data and associated information for particular recording and playback workflows.