A video coding format (or sometimes video compression format) is an encoded format of digital video content, such as in a data file or bitstream. It typically uses a standardized video compression algorithm, most commonly based on discrete cosine transform (DCT) coding and motion compensation. A computer software or hardware component that compresses or decompresses a specific video coding format is a video codec.
Some video coding formats are documented by a detailed technical specification document known as a video coding specification. Some such specifications are written and approved by standardization organizations as technical standards, and are thus known as a video coding standard. There are de facto standards and formal standards.
