Transcoding: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 01:26, 28 February 2006

Revision as of 02:00, 23 March 2006

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{{mergefrom|transcoding}}

'''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,i.e. [[PCM]] for audio or [[YUV]] for video) that mimics standard playback of the lossy content and then re-encoding this into the target format.

With regards to audio/video, Transcodingtranscoding usually refers to compressing files (such as MPEG-2 or MP3) to a lower bitrate without changing formats. Encoding usually refers to changing formats (such as AVI to MPEG or PCM to MP3).

[[Compression artifact]]s 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 Computer|Apple]] [[iPod]]) the only way for the owner to use content encoded in that format is to transcode it to a supported format.

[[Compression artifact]]s 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,i.e. [[Ogg Vorbis]] and the [[Apple Computer|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==