Information on Video Codecs
X-lite has various video codecs implemented. The implemented codecs of the X-lite 3.0 version are H.263 and H.263+. The H.264 codec is available when using eyebeam 1.5 although some codecs require payment of royalities for their use in a product or program.
| Codec | Compression method | Transfer rate |
|---|---|---|
| H.263 | Videocodec (DCT) | 16-256 Kbps |
| G.261 | Videocodec (DCT) | 64-256 Kbps |
Whether the H.263 codec uses 16 or 256 Kbps or anything in between is (still) unclear to me.
H.263 is a codec designed for videoconferencing using low-bitrate compression.
With H.263 the contraints on the bit rate are applied externally and are given by the used terminal or the network.
Most of the media you play at for example YouTube or Google Video uses this encoding format. Improvement of this codec has lead to the development of H.263v2 (or H.263+) in 1998 and H.263v3 (or H.263++) in 2000. Also H.264 is available and is also known as MPEG-4 (part 10) which is considered as a significant improvement in comparison with the H.263 codec. Now, most of the new videoconferencing software support H.264 (and its older versions).
