Container format
A container format is the file wrapper that packages encoded audio (and video, captions, metadata) — MP4, MKV, WebM and WAV are containers holding streams produced by codecs.
'Will this file work' is usually a container question, and re-wrapping streams into a new container is instant because nothing is re-encoded. Transcription services accept many containers because they extract and decode the audio stream regardless.
Related terms
Frequently asked
What is Container format?
A container format is the file wrapper that packages encoded audio (and video, captions, metadata) — MP4, MKV, WebM and WAV are containers holding streams produced by codecs.
Why does Container format matter?
'Will this file work' is usually a container question, and re-wrapping streams into a new container is instant because nothing is re-encoded. Transcription services accept many containers because they extract and decode the audio stream regardless.
What terms are related to Container format?
Closely related concepts: Codec, PCM (pulse-code modulation) — each has its own entry in this glossary.