Difference Between Xvid and X264 Video Codec

Now a days we found that the videos are available in different video codec formats. So viewer has to decide that which format he want to watch for the video. There are different video codec's are present like Xvid, MPEG2, MPEG4, x264 etc. So lets look what is the difference between Xvid and x264 video codec.

What is Xvid?

First of all Xvid is a one of the all video codec’s. Xvid has been around for a considerably long time, since the time it branched off from DivX. And during this time it has grown considerably in quality and it has arguably surpassed DivX in terms of video quality and compression. Xvid is an alternative codec library that follows the MPEG4 standard. It is often due to the relatively small file size of the resulting video file. Another, codec standard that is rapidly gaining popularity is H.264, largely because of its more advanced features and high quality encoded videos. 

Again XviD, an open source version of DivX, is popular among movie pirates. In general, as long as you install the Xvid decoder, your machine will be able to play all DivX media files. Most use Xvid encoded files to avi extension.

What is x264?

First of all X264 is a one of the all video codec’s. X264 is just one of the few software libraries that you can use to encode videos into H.264. X264 boasts to be the best H.264 encoder in existence, even surpassing those that are being commercially sold. X264 is only necessary when you are encoding the video from any format to H.264. You do not need it during playback as the resulting file can be played as long as you have an H.264 codec installed.

Again x264, which compresses H.264 videos (Also known as MPEG-4 AVC), and is very popular for high definition videos. Xvid is based largely from MPEG4 and the resulting file can be played with almost any of the MPEG4 codecs available if you do not use any of the advanced features of Xvid that breaks compatibility. If you do, then you must have the Xvid codec installed in the devices that you intend to play the videos on.

Xvid can output avi files which are of standard viewing quality (better than vcd and good enough for dvd) playable on all latest dvd players x264 can output mkv/mp4 files which are better than avi and fall under AVC(advanced video coding) mkv - HD player needed/ mp4 - only standard profiles will be supported on players with mp4 support.

Conclusion:

So finally, we have conclude that Xvid is a video codec library for encoding and decoding video files while X264 is a software library for encoding video files into H.264.