Video CD - technical definition

A compact disc format used to hold full-motion video developed by Panasonic, Philips, Sony and JVC and introduced in 1993. A Video CD (VCD) holds 74 minutes of VHS-quality video and CD-quality sound using MPEG-1 compression. A Super Video CD (SVCD) format was introduced that uses MPEG-2, but playing time is reduced to as little as 35 minutes. Introduced three years before the first DVD players were available, VCDs did not catch on in North America, but were very popular in Asia. Video CDs can be played on current-day CD-ROM and DVD drives as well as CD-I and 3DO players. Specifications for this format are defined in the "White Book." See DVD.

    Video CD Resolutions
                       VCD         SVCD
    NTSC (30 fps)      352x240     480x480
    PAL/SECAM (25 fps) 352/288     480x576

See Video CD.