COMPRESSION

• Digital media projects must be compressed to enable desktop playback
• Different files play on different operating systems and software
• It’s a jungle out there! What we want to cover in this session are the choices available to the content developer so they can make an informed decision on which way to deliver their project.

COMPRESSION DEMYSTIFIED

• The amount of compression applied depends on the mode of delivery
• DVD - light compression- MPEG files - maintains integrity of original
• CD-ROM - medium compression
  AVI files for Windows, Quicktime or MPEG files for Macintosh and Windows
• Internet - heavy compression. The amount depends on the user’s connection speed. The slower the connection speed the smaller (more compressed) the file needs to be.

CODECS

Short for compressor/decompressor.

A codec is a software module which turns your large video file into a much more user friendly file in terms of size and deliverability.

There are a wide variety of codecs and, as time goes by, the list will become longer.

Video and audio compression are new fields of expertise and are really a bottomless pit in terms of understanding how altering compression settings can vary the results of the encoding session.

Explore video compression:

• All you need to know about compressing video for delivery on CDRom or the web: http://www.terran.com/codeccentral/index.html

• Adobe’s Premiere Expert Centre (http://studio.adobe.com/expertcenter/premiere/main.html) has a succinct section on video compression.