Popular Video File Formats

DVDs and Blu-ray discs have changed the way we watch movies. Complete with surround sound and HD video, the movie theater experience can now be recreated in the living room. And with TV shows, YouTube, and movies available on the iPhone, iPod, PSP, BlackBerry, Zune or other personal media player, we can watch movies pretty much anywhere at any time.

But, as anyone with a passing interest in home movies, video editing or multimedia can tell you, video formats can be frustrating and confusing. Before you get started converting DVD movies for playback on your iPhone or BlackBerry, you’ll want to familiarize yourself with some of the most frequently used video formats.

One option is to find a video converter equipped to change your video files to the appropriate format. Good DVD ripper software, DVD burning programs and video editing tools include video conversion tools.

3GP – is a type of MP4 formatted for use on smartphones. 

AVI – The Audio Video Interleave, or .avi, format dates back to the early days of the Windows operating system. Today, AVI video is a common video type used for playing video on PCs.
DivX – Another common type of AVI file is DivX, originally conceived as a lightweight alternative to bulky Microsoft video types. Converting a video to the .divx file extension ensures that it will be compact and occupy less space on your hard drive—just be sure you download codecs for your media player.

MOV – Apple’s standard movie format. You’ll find .mov as the designation for QuickTime videos.


MPG – aka MPEG, is a major video format compatible with almost everything.

WMV – Is Microsoft’s newest video type—it’s designed to work with Windows Media Player.

VOB – Every DVD contains audio, video, subtitle and menu information. A VOB (Video Object) is what you’ll find on a DVD you bring home from the video store.

There are many more video formats available then the handful we’ve listed. Different devices and companies often have their own type of video files. This usually isn’t a problem, but what if someone decides they’d like to watch video stored on a DVD, say, on their iPhone?