Conclusion

Digital television and radio, as well as streaming audio and video over the Internet and to mobile devices, would not have been possible without compression formats. However, the reduction in throughput (and storage capacity) comes at the price of :

• degradation of original quality (except with a lossless compression codec) and the possible perception of artifacts;

• an increase in encoding time and computing power;

• an increase in transmission latency, a problem for example when transmitting live UHD television production over an IP link.

This article offers a broad overview of digital media compression formats, but also illustrates their (too) great multiplicity, due to the originator and origin of their development, their performance and...