Transcoding: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 23:29, 3 November 2004

Revision as of 19:10, 27 February 2005

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'''Transcoding''' is the act of converting digital content from one (usually [[lossy]]) format to another. It involves first decoding/decompressing the original data to a raw intermediate format (ie, [[PCM]] for audio or [[YUV]] for video) that mimics standard playback of the lossy content and then re-encoding this into the target format.

'''Transcode''' is a [[free software|free]] tool for video conversion. It can be used to convert between '''''many''''' different video and audio codecs and packaging formats.

Compression artifacts are cumulative, therefore transcoding between lossy [[codec]]s causes a progressive loss of quality with each successive generation. For this reason it is generally discouraged unless unavoidable. For instance, if an individual owns a [[digital audio player]] that does not support a particular format (ie, [[Ogg Vorbis]] and the [[Apple]] [[iPod]]) the only way for the owner to use content encoded in that format is to transcode it to a supported format.

==Transcode video processing software==

'''Transcode''' is also a [[free software|free]] tool for video conversion released under the [[GNU General Public License]]. It can be used to convert between '''''many''''' different video and audio codecs and packaging formats.

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==External link==

* [http://inferno.slug.org/cgi-bin/transcode Transcode Homevideo software]

[[Category:Free video software]]