Advanced Video Coding

What Does Advanced Video Coding Mean?

Advanced Video Coding (AVC) is a type of standard for the compression of digital video. AVC helps to set the standard syntax for video formats such as Blu-Ray, mobile TV and teleconferencing.

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AVC is also known as H.264 or MPEG-4 Part 10.

Techopedia Explains Advanced Video Coding

In terms of its origin, AVC was developed jointly by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU-T) and the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG), which is a project of the ISO/IEC and familiar to many users because of popular and accessible MPEG file formats, like .mpg.

Experts point out that AVC is a prominent alternative to an MP4 format. When comparing AVC to MP4, it’s important to consider that AVC has a bigger compression ratio and longer encoding than MP4, and that more central processing power is needed. However, experts also point out that the storage efficiency of AVC is greater than those of some previous MPEG formats.

The actual methodology used to encode and decode video with AVC involves three distinct phases labeled “predict”, “transform” and “encode.” The mechanics of AVC break video down into a kind of machine language that can be easily stored and accessed by a range of technologies.

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Margaret Rouse

Margaret Rouse is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical, business audience. Over the past twenty years her explanations have appeared on TechTarget websites and she's been cited as an authority in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine and Discovery Magazine.Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages. If you have a suggestion for a new definition or how to improve a technical explanation, please email Margaret or contact her…