Authoring means, in video world, a process where already-encoded video files are transferred into a specific format that describes how the data should be kept on storage media, such as CD or DVD.
Most common use of the term is when speaking of DVD authoring, using a separate DVD authoring software that allows users to create menus, chapter selections, etc to the disc's layout in addition to the actual video file(s) and transfer this structure to filesystem that can then be burned to a DVD.
Other authoring processes include VCD authoring and SVCD authoring. In both processes, authors can create menus and chapter selections and various other tasks before the structure is ready for CD burning, pretty much like in DVD authoring (just in more limited scale).
Here are our related guides for authoring DVDs:
Basic DVD Authoring Project Part 1 - Introduction
Basic DVD Authoring Project Part 2 - Analysis
Basic DVD Authoring Project Part 3 - Prepare Audio Assets
Basic DVD Authoring Project Part 4a - Prepare NTSC Video
Basic DVD Authoring Project Part 4b - Prepare PAL Video
Basic DVD Authoring Project 5 - Calculate Video Bitrates
Basic DVD Project Part 6 - Encode Video Assets With CCE Basic
Basic TMPGEnc DVD Author Guide
Advanced TMPGEnc DVD Author Guide
TSUNAMI MPEG DVD Author Pro Guide
