Overview: Video codecs

Video codecs define coded-picture formats whose properties and implementation support influence playback compatibility.

A player must understand the picture coding inside a track before it can reconstruct the video. Codec families reflect different standards and workflows, from delivery-oriented formats to editing and preservation formats. For an Emby session, the selected codec, stream constraints and available decoder together determine the usable path.

• How video codecs affect playback compatibility
  Video codec compatibility depends on the encoded stream and the decoder available to a particular playback app.

• MPEG and ITU-T video codecs
  MPEG and ITU-T video codec families define widely used generations of standardized picture coding.

• VPx and AV1
  VP8, VP9 and AV1 are distinct video coding formats with different tools and decoder requirements.

• VC-1
  VC-1 is the video coding format standardized in SMPTE ST 421 with Simple, Main, and Advanced profiles.

• Production and preservation codecs
  Production and preservation codecs serve workflows where editing access, reconstruction quality or long-term fidelity influence coding choices.