Sustainability of Digital Formats: Planning for Library of Congress Collections |
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Introduction | Sustainability Factors | Content Categories | Format Descriptions | Contact |
Full name | Cinepak |
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Description | Bitstream encoding for video; John McGowan states, "Cinepak uses Vector Quantization based image compression and frame differencing." Multiple versions exist, including "SuperMac," "Radius," and "Compression Technologies;" this document does not distinguish between them. |
Production phase | May be used as a middle-state (video production) or end-user delivery format. |
Relationship to other formats | |
Used by | AVI_Cinepak, Audio Video Interleaved, Cinepak |
Used by | QTV_Cinepak, QuickTime, Cinepak |
LC experience or existing holdings | |
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LC preference |
Disclosure | Proprietary standard with little or no public documentation |
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Documentation | None identified as of April 26, 2004. |
Adoption | Has been widespread; in 2000, John McGowan wrote that "Cinepak is the most widely used Video for Windows codec." |
Licensing and patents | Apparently various providers of encoders license the use of their products. |
Transparency | Depends upon algorithms and tools to read; will require sophistication to build tools. |
Self-documentation | Not applicable; provided by wrapper formats. |
External dependencies | None. |
Technical protection considerations | Not applicable; provided by wrapper formats. |
Moving Image | |
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Normal rendering | Not applicable |
Clarity (high image resolution) | Moderate, varies according to encoder used. |
Functionality beyond normal rendering | Not applicable. |
Tag | Value | Note |
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Filename extension | Not applicable. | |
Internet Media Type | Not applicable. | |
Magic numbers | Not applicable. | |
Microsoft FOURCC | CVID |
Used when this codec is wrapped in Microsoft file formats, e.g., AVI and ASF; see the list of FOURCC codes. FOURCC codes are no longer managed by Microsoft, which has developed a new mechanism for identifying rich media types in general. |
General | Some discussion of Cinepak in John McGowan's AVI Overview: Audio and Video Codecs (http://www.jmcgowan.com/avicodecs.html). |
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History |
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