H.264

H.264 (aka MPEG-4 AVC) is a video compression standard that is one of the most commonly used formats for the recording, compression, and distribution of video content. It is widely used in Blu-ray discs, internet sources like videos in YouTube, Vimeo, and iTunes, web software such as the Adobe Flash Player and Microsoft Silverlight, and also HDTV broadcasts over terrestrial, cable and satellite.

Approved in 2003 as the successor to MPEG-2 Part, and developed for use in high definition systems such as HDTV, Blu-ray and HD DVD as well as low resolution portable devices such as Sony’s PSP and Apple’s iPod, H.264 offers better quality at lower file sizes than its predecessor.

Currently, H.264 is gradually being replaced with the newer H.265 standard.