I’ve often been asked – again, at parties – why an MXF wrapper? The simple answer is that the MXF wrapper – the container – has much more flexibility in the spec. When Media Composer is directly handling DNxHD, Avid wraps the DNxHD in an MXF wrapper. DNxHD is a lossy, HD frame size codec, developed by Avid. Let’s start with Avid Media Composer.Īvid’s codec du jour is DNxHD. Let’s highlight a few of the best practices in several of the popular NLEs. Some are robust enough to handle several different codecs and wrappers, while others are quite a bit finicky. If delivering to an online provider, such as Netflix, Hulu, and to some extent YouTube, they each have specs you must hit, or risk poor image quality, or the file being rejected. If it’s Broadcast, you have Redbook standards to conform to, lest your media fails QC – and you have to regenerate and resubmit. Depending on where you are delivering the file to, you need to hit the deliverable’s specs. Once the project is done, and it needs to be delivered – again, the codec and wrapper choose you. This often times means you need a greater amount of storage and a faster way of getting the data to and from your computer. The latter is obviously easier on the computer – but again, takes up more space. Intraframe means the data for each frame is self-contained within the encoded frame. Interframe encoding means the computer needs to look at several neighboring frames to form a complete image of each individual frame. This is what is known as inter vs intraframe encoding. This means the computer has to work less on interpreting each frame of data. Or MXF wrapped DNxHD.Įditing friendly codecs take advantage of larger file sizes by compressing the data less.
You can transcode – or flip – these camera original files into more edit-friendly codecs. This is where you have more flexibility to choose your codecs. Many NLEs can’t decode several streams of h.264 efficiently, and rendering can be a pain. Small file size, pretty decent image quality, but they break down in post rapidly. Most consumer or prosumer cameras record in formats that initially look good but perform horribly in post. Thus, you need to handle whatever format the chosen camera gives you. These cameras have encoders built-in, which traditionally only record to one or two different codecs and wrappers. Why do you ask? Often, you choose a camera because of the look it has – or because that’s the camera your buddy will lend you. When we are acquiring, you normally don’t initially choose a codec and wrapper. What do I need to be aware of when choosing a codec?Ĭodecs and Wrappers are generally found in 3 places: acquiring, editing, and delivering. As you discuss media decoding at your next party, start to use both terms, like “h.264 Quicktime” or “animation in an AVI wrapper”. How many times has someone asked you for a QUICKTIME? Or an AVI? Again, that’s akin to asking for a can….not what the can contains. In Post, the terms codec and wrapper are often misused or used interchangeably. Thus, I need to find the right decoder for the codec -in this case, a spoon – so I can consume the soupy goodness.Īs you can see, it’s imperative to know both the wrapper and the essence inside to properly handle soup…err, media.
Unfortunately, I don’t have the right tool with which to partake in this feast. Once we open the can, we can examine the contents -or the codec, and choose the best decoder tool with which to handle what’s in the can. We do know, however, that a can needs a can opener to open up the can to see what’s inside. However, It has no markings – we don’t know what’s inside of it….the essence. This can is our wrapper, and it contains tonight’s dinner. That digital coating tells your playback device what application should be used to read the codec inside because that application most likely understands the codec inside. A codec is delivered in a wrapper – a digital coating that encompasses the codec filling. But when working with digital media, the codec is only half of the equation. It’s for both creating and playing back a media file. In the most basic descriptions, it’s the specific algorithm used to encode and decode a video stream. What is a codec?Ī codec is an abbreviation for “compressor-decompressor”. Let’s roll up our sleeves and get ready for some acronyms. Today we’re delving into the wonderfully geeky realm of codecs, the fundamentals of usage in post, and best practices.
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