Feature: From Cinepak to H.265: a brief history of video compression

December 22nd, 2009

When we asked our faithful readers what technological advances had made the biggest difference to their lives, Prospero424 stepped up to the plate to deliver a humdinger: video compression.

To Prospero, MPEG-4 part 2 compression was “when the internet truly became a viable A/V platform/medium. This is when storing hours of video that looked good enough to watch and keep became viable to store online locally (i.e. on your hard disks, not on external discs, etc.) on personal computers. No other single aspect of the evolution of entertainment has done more to change how I consume it.”

Let’s rewind the tape a little bit further than that, in order to see the breaking point arrive. Prospero is correct that video compression has indeed revolutionized entertainment over the past decade, but the technology has a longer history than you might think.