The way in which an encoder multiplexes video and audio together. For example, the container formats supported by the Oracle Video Server include MPEG-1 system, MPEG-2 transport, Oracle Video Stream, and any container format that meets the Raw Key Frame requirements.

A container format is a computer file format that can contain various types of data, compressed by means of standardized codecs. The container file is used to identify and interleave the different data types. Simpler container formats can contain different types of audio codecs, while more advanced container formats can support audio, video, subtitles, chapters, and meta-data (tags) - along with the synchronization information needed to play back the various streams together.