A video converter is a software or hardware tool designed to change the format of a video file into a different format. This process, known as video conversion or transcoding, is essential for ensuring compatibility between various devices, platforms, and media players. The formats can differ in compression techniques, resolutions, frame rates, and codecs, making it difficult to play a particular video on a certain device without converting it first. Here’s how transcoding works and what makes them a vital tool in digital media handling.
Video File Formats and Codecs
To understand how a video converter works, it’s essential to grasp the concept of video file formats and codecs. A format, such as MP4, AVI, or MOV, is a vessel that holds both the video and audio data. Within this vessel, codecs (coder-decoder) determine how this data is compressed and decompressed. Popular codecs include H.264, HEVC (H.265), and VP9. Different platforms, devices, and applications may only support specific formats and codecs, that’s why conversion is sometimes needed.
Steps in Video Conversion
When converting a video from one format to another, several key processes occur:
1. Decoding the Original Video
Decoding is the first process in video conversions and allows the conversion of different types of video codes. It is from the interpretation of the codec employed in the creation of the original file that the video converter can read it. While doing so, the converter rescues raw video and audio data from the container format in which they are embedded. This data once captured is then ready to be RE ENCODED into other formats. For example, if you have a video file in format AVI with the codec Xvid, then the converter must use the Xvid codec to acquire video within it.
2. Re-encoding with a New Codec
After decoding, the transcoder recodes the video and audio and encodes it again using the new codec set by the user. In this step, the raw data is first quantized to conform to the required format of the selected convention. The converter ensures the output video is at the right resolution, frame rate, bitrate, and compression quality. For example, converting a video to MP4 H.264 entails converting it into a format that uses the H.264 codec while retaining the MP4 format structure. Click here for reference.
3. Adjusting Resolution, Frame Rate, and Bitrate
Default parameters in this case are the width and height of video tracks, frame rate, and bit rate of the tracks. They afford some versatility to assess the balance between file size and quality. Increasing the numbers beyond the bitrate will enable the producer to get high picture quality by using more space as compared to the old use of low numbers due to less space but with low quality.
4. Encoding the Audio
Like any other media stream, the audio track in a video file is also compressed by use of a codec. Some common formats of audio codecs are AAC, MP3, and Opus. In the conversion process, the audio can be compressed to match the new format of the video or transcoded. It is used to sample a signal and change the sample rate and/or the number of audio channels.
5. Creating the New Video File
Once the video and audio data are re-encoded into the desired format, the converter packages them into a new file container. This could be MP4, MKV, or any other supported format. The final product is a video file that retains the content of the original but in a different format that can be played on a wider range of devices or platforms. Visit their website to learn more.
Conclusion
A video converter works by decoding a file, re-encoding it using a different codec, and packaging it into a new file format. This process ensures that videos can be played across various devices and platforms, even if they have different format requirements. By adjusting settings such as resolution, bitrate, and codec, video converters help users maintain control over the quality and size of the final output.
