Even now, nevertheless, the video recording formats backed up by the iPod, Apple TV, or iPhone are comparatively restricted compared to the amount of data formats available on the marketplace. That means that about any content that you'd prefer to view on those devices is going to demand some case of conversion operation. The coming of these fresh devices has elaborated the landscape painting even further, since a lot of alternatives are today reachable for both the viewing and encrypting of video recordings, but with those alterations come more conditions about how to code video for the best imaginable watching experience.

The world-known iPod, Apple TV and iPhone will replay videos encrypted applying either the MPEG-4 and H.264 codecs. These are so called "open standard" video formats, and not in anyhow proprietorship to Apple, but at the same time don't constitute a large-minded portion of the video files that are presently reachable outside of the iTunes Shop. Additionally, that doesn't correspond the video measure that's used by nearly all video devices, telly recording appliances, or commercial videodiscs. The consequence is that discovering video content from anyplace other than the iTunes shop that's already encrypted in an Apple-ready data formatting is going to be hard, and a good deal of this content will consequently require being converted.

For instance, nearly all commercial video photographic cameras use either decompressed Digital Video (or "DV") with MPEG-2. Commercial message videodiscs also apply MPEG-2 as their data format. Video recordings downloaded from the Net could be in any amount of data formats, including DivX and Windows Media Video or QuickTime, amidst others.

Apple's expected reason for these exceptional alternatives of codec is that they're an open, accomplished measure, and they both provide a very high-ranking of video recording and audio frequency quality for a afforded file sizing. MPEG-4 has historically been really great in this affect to begin with, and the H.264 codec has just bettered on the quality and data file sizing efficiency.

As one would like, when modernizing a portable video replay device, the quality to size ratio is really significant both in termini of maximising the number of content that could match the more special storage of a portable appliance, also enlarging the battery work of the device, as more expectant content can demand extra processing power, therefore cutting battery life. The H.264 codec seems to have been a raw fit to address both demands, as well as allowing a stable, open measure for Apple to apply for their favored video data format.

Video content on the iTunes shop applies the H.264 codec entirely. Content you encrypt yourself could be encrypted into either H.264 and MPEG-4, altho H.264 will normally provide better select for a given file-size, it takes longer to encrypt as well.