Digital Media: file formats and recording formats

Professionals and private individuals alike have to handle, store, manage, exchange, produce and distribute digital media "encoded" in various formats, called "essence" formats, and encapsulated in formats called "container formats".

This "Panorama of digital media" dossier, comprising six articles, aims to map and describe these different digital media formats.

The first article [TE 5 364] details the parameters of the "digital native format", which is the coded result of a discontinuous, sampled measurement of the amplitude of continuous, proportional analog quantities generated by sound or image recording equipment.

The second article [TE 5 366] presents an overview of digital compression formats for audio, still images and video, which reduce the amount of data in native formats, making them easier to process, store and/or distribute.

The third article [TE 5 368] introduces the functions, content and structure of container formats used to encapsulate audio, still images or video, either in native format or, more often, in compression format.

This article, the fourth in the series, describes the main container formats for media storage. It details (origin, container and content specifications, uses) some sixty file formats, among the most widely used in the media and audiovisual world, as well as recording formats on optical or magnetic media.

The fifth article [TE 5 370] describes the main container formats dedicated to different modes of digital media transport, as well as mega-container formats.

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