These tables compare features of multimedia container formats, most often used for storing or streaming digital video or digital audio content. To see which multimedia players support which container format, look at comparison of media players.
General information
In many ways, derived containers are similar to those on which they are based, sometimes extending them, sometimes limiting their capabilities.
- QTFF
- ISO BMFF
- MP4
- 3GPP, 3GPP2
- F4V
- MPEG-PS
- MPEG-TS
- M2TS
- VOB
- EVOB
- MCF
- Matroska
- WebM
- RIFF
- AVI
- DMF
- RM
- RMVB
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders sticky-header"
|+ General information about video container formats
|-
!scope="col" |Format
!scope="col" |Filename extension
!scope="col" |Owner or creator
!scope="col" |Initial release
!scope="col" |License<wbr/>
!scope="col" |VBR audio
!scope="col" |VFR
!scope="col" |Hardware players
!scope="col" |Streaming<wbr/>
!scope="col" |Metadata<wbr/>
!scope="col" |Chapters
|-
!scope="row" |Matroska
|.mkv, .mk3d<wbr/>
|CoreCodec<wbr/>
|2002-12
|<wbr/>
|<wbr/>
|<wbr/>
|<wbr/>
|<wbr/>
|<wbr/>
|<wbr/>
|-
!scope="row" |MPEG-4 Part 14 (MP4)
|.mp4, .m4v<wbr/>
|MPEG
|2001-10
|<wbr/>
|
|
|
|
|
|<wbr/>
|-
!scope="row" |QuickTime File Format (QTFF)
|.mov, .qt
|Apple Inc.
|1991-12
|<wbr/>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
!scope="row" |Advanced Systems Format (ASF)
|.asf, .wmv<wbr/>
|Microsoft
|1996-09
|<wbr/>
|
|
|
|<wbr/>
|
|
|-
!scope="row" |Audio Video Interleave (AVI)
|.avi
|Microsoft
|1992-11
|<wbr/>
|<wbr/>
|<wbr/>
|
|
|
|
|-
!scope="row" |Material Exchange Format (MXF)
|.mxf
|SMPTE
|2004-09
|<wbr/>
|
|
|
|<wbr/>
|
|<wbr/>