Video codecs overview

A video codec is a compression format: it defines the bitstream and how a decoder turns it back into pictures. The encoder you run (x264, SVT-AV1, …), the container you mux into, and the player that decodes it are separate choices, and each one can limit what actually works.

Delivery codecs

Codec	Standardised by	Use it today for	Main encoders
AVC / H.264	ITU-T/ISO, 2003	Anything that has to play everywhere; low-cost live and hardware workflows	x264, hardware encoders
HEVC / H.265	ITU-T/ISO, 2013	UHD/HDR to TVs, phones and Apple devices; Blu-ray/broadcast ecosystems	x265, hardware encoders
VP8	On2/Google, 2010	Legacy WebM and WebRTC compatibility only	libvpx
VP9	Google, 2013	Royalty-free web video where AV1 decode is missing or too slow	libvpx
AV1	AOMedia, 2018	Royalty-free web and streaming delivery, high-efficiency personal and archive encodes	SVT-AV1, aomenc, rav1e, hardware encoders
VVC / H.266	ITU-T/ISO, 2020	Broadcast systems that mandate it, and evaluation; little consumer playback support	VVenC, uvg266
AV2	AOMedia, 2026	Research and evaluation; no players or hardware yet	AVM reference software
AVS3	China AVS working group	Chinese broadcast/UHD ecosystems	uavs3e

For new web delivery the usual ladder is AV1 with an H.264 fallback, with VP9 or HEVC in between where the audience’s devices need it. Compression efficiency rises roughly in the order AVC → VP9/HEVC → AV1 → VVC → AV2, but the encoder and its speed setting matter as much as the format.

Production, archive and legacy codecs

Codec	Use it for
FFV1	Lossless preservation masters (IETF RFC 9043), usually in Matroska
ProRes	Editing and interchange intermediates; FFmpeg has its own ProRes encoders
Ut Video	Fast lossless capture and editing intermediates
VC-1	Decoding old Windows Media, HD DVD and Blu-ray material
Theora	Existing Ogg workflows only
DSV and DSV2	Hobby wavelet codecs; experimentation only
ECM	JVET’s beyond-VVC exploration model; research only

Picking a codec

Start from the decoders you must reach, not from compression efficiency:

1. Playback targets. Browsers, TVs, phones, editing software. Check video codec support and fall back to H.264 for anything you can’t verify.
2. Profile, bit depth and chroma. “Supports HEVC” or “supports AV1” usually means 8/10-bit 4:2:0. 4:2:2, 4:4:4 and 12-bit streams are often software-only.
3. Decode cost. Software AV1 or HEVC decode can drain a phone battery or drop frames on old PCs; hardware decode support matters for mobile audiences.
4. Container and HDR. The codec has to be mapped into the container you need, and HDR metadata has to survive encoding and muxing. See containers and HDR.
5. Licensing. AVC, HEVC and VVC are covered by patent pools; AV1, VP8 and VP9 were released royalty-free, although third-party pools also claim patents against AV1 and VP9.

To see what an existing file actually contains:

ffprobe -v error -select_streams v:0 -show_entries stream=codec_name,profile,level,pix_fmt,color_transfer -of default=nw=1 input.mkv

For a guided decision, see choosing a codec.