VCD Infomation

Video CD (VCD) is an official format and supported by almost all DVD players, and also playable on computers using a VCD player.  Below are the encoding specifications for VCD, alongside the settings for eXtended Video CD (xVCD), please note as xVCD is an unofficial format the bitrates are not fixed, but dependant on the desired playback method, many DVD players will play xVCD to varying standards, see VCDHelp site which has a database of DVD players and what formats they will play.

  VCD xVCD
Mpeg Standard Mpeg 1 Mpeg 1
Video Bitrate 1150 kbit/sec (see notes above)
Audio Bitrate 224 kbit/sec 224 kbit/sec
Total Bitrate (max) 1374 kbit/sec (fixed) (see notes below)
Audio Sampling Freq. 44.1 kHz 44.1 kHz
Video Frame Size PAL 352x288 @ 25 fps 720x576 max @ 25fps
Video Frame Size NTSC 352x240 @ 29.97 fps 720x480 max @ 29.97fps
Format Extras Menus, Chapters, Still Pictures Menus, Chapters, Still Pictures

SVCD Information

Super Video CD (VCD) is an official format and supported by some DVD players, and also playable on computers using a DVD player.  Below are the encoding specifications for SVCD, alongside the settings for eXtended Super Video CD (xSVCD), please note xSVCD is an unofficial format and the bitrates and frame sizes are not fixed, but dependant on the desired playback machine, some DVD players will play xSVCD to varying standards, see VCDHelp site which has a database of DVD players and what formats they will play.

  SVCD xSVCD
Mpeg Standard Mpeg 2 Mpeg 2
Video Bitrate 2600 kbit/sec (see notes below)
Audio Bitrate 32-384 kbit/sec 32-384 kbit/sec
Total Bitrate (max) 2748 kbit/sec (max) (see notes above)
Audio Sampling Freq. 44.1 kHz 44.1 kHz
Video Frame Size PAL 480x576 @ 25 fps 720x576 max @ 25fps (max)
Video Frame Size NTSC 480x480 @ 29.97 fps 720x480 max @ 29.97fps (max)
Format Extras Menus, Chapters, Still Pictures Menus, Chapters, Still Pictures, Subtitles, Multiple Audio Tracks