What does MP3 have to do with digital video?

People who are new to the digital video scene do not seem to understand the correlation between their digital video and the MP3 audio format. To understand the correlation, digital video, compression, audio/video synchronization, and compression formats need to understand enough to know how they work with each other.

Digital video cameras record video onto tapes in an uncompressed form called D.V. (digital video). The D.V. information contained on the tape when directly transferred over to a computer takes up a lot of space. It is so big that it is quite impossible for the normal everyday Joe to use. The audio recorded on the tape is also in an uncompressed format called PCM (stereo). Along with the video, it takes up a considerably large amount of space on hard drive of the computer. If you ever attempt to work with files of these sizes and of these formats, you will quickly discover that the format is quite difficult for the computer to process and find that you burned out the motherboard before you could say "hey, what's that grinding noise?" The underlying problem is that home PCs aren't built to handle huge uncompressed files with ease, not matter what kind of file is being dealt with. To get around these hassles, different compression formats have been developed to preserve most of the quality of the digital video and audio.

When MP3 was first introduced to the world, it was introduced with another format called MPEG. Basically MPEG is "moving JPEG," or moving pictures. The compression system splits the video into thousands of little JPEG that take up little memory and creates a file that runs with ease the pictures up to speed, creating the video. There needed to be a compressor for audio to run alongside the video that worked just as efficiently, and that is where MP3 comes into play. The PCM audio is run into the computer and the compressor "dumbs down" the sound into simpler information that takes up less room, but is capable of keeping CD quality stereo sound. Although it is not as clear as the uncompressed format, it competes well and allows users to actually use the media they have created.

The advantage of using MP3 in the use of digital video is that it can be manipulated, changed, even changed out with a new soundtrack with absolute ease. The computing power needed to work with an MP3 compressed audio file is amazingly lower than working with PCM. And for the money, the results are quite astounding. Take for example a normal audio CD that you have in your car stereo. It probably has about sixteen to twenty-five songs on it. The music is in a compressed format that is far less compressed than MP3, and those songs completely fill the CD. Take about ten of those CDs in the car run them onto the computer into the MP3 format. Once you do that, burn those files onto a regular blank CD. That little CD you made will hold ten to eleven hours of music in the MP3 format while keeping CD quality audio.

Now when you are capturing digital video onto your computer and it asks whether or not it should compress the audio and video into these different formats, you know it's to your benefit to use them. There are many new formats besides MP3 or MPEG that produce outstanding results. Try them out and see how they make digital video easier to handle. With the ever-changing world of technology, it would be wise to learn the tools available to make older technology more efficient. It will only benefit those who care to understand it.