H.264 is really a new video codec standard which may achieve premium quality video in relatively low bitrates. You can think it the "successor" on the existing formats (MPEG2,MPEG4,DivX,XviD,etc.) the way it aims in offering similar video quality by 50 percent how big the formats discussed earlier. Also referred to as AVC (Advanced Video Coding, MPEG-4 Part 10), H.264 is really defined in a identical pair of standards maintained by different organizations, together the Joint Video Team (JVT). While MPEG-4 Part 10 is an ISO/IEC standard, it turned out developed in cooperation using the ITU, an organization heavily linked to broadcast television standards. Because the ITU designation for the standard is H.264, you could see MPEG-4 Part 10 video termed as either AVC or H.264. Both are valid, and refer to identical standard.

You might discover lots of file extensions yet still the codec can be H.264:

*.avi - People also employ .avi for H.264 videos too!

*.mp4 - QuickTime make use of this format. Better than AVI as you can store AAC audio as well.

*.m4v - The common file format for videos for iOS devices manufactured by Apple.

*.mkv (Matroska container) - is capable of supporting many video and audio formats.

*.h264 - Not widely used, but you may download some video clips using this type of extension name from online. Audio: AAC, HE-AAC, MP3 t any re-encoding or quality loss.