How Codecs Work - Tutorial

In this tutorial, David Kong covers all of the big concepts behind codecs, breaking it down into understandable pieces. While the nitty-gritty of compression algorithms can get complicated, all of the main ideas are quite simple.

Here's an overview of the topics covered:

• What a codec is - And how it differs from a container.
• Different types of codecs - And why I frequently use 4 different codecs on a single project.
• Bit Depth - What it means and why it matters.
• Chroma Subsampling - 4:4:4, 4:2:2, and 4:2:0, and when it becomes an issue.
• Spatial Compression and Blocking - One of the most common artefacts you see with normal work.
• Temporal Compression - Long-GOP codecs, inter-frame compression, and ALL-I codecs.
• Lossless vs. Lossy compression - How image compression differs from data compression.
• Bit Rate - How to calculate bit rates and the differences between kbps/kBps/Mbps/MBps.
• Raw - Briefly, the difference between Raw, compressed, and uncompressed video.