The demand to download a codec for all formats highlights the fragmentation of the digital landscape. Historically, different companies developed their own standards, leading to "format wars".

The word "codec" is a portmanteau of and DECoder . It is the invisible translator that sits between raw data and your screen.

Uncompressed video files are massive—so large that a single movie could fill an entire hard drive.

The history of codecs is a story of constant refinement in efficiency: