At one time RealVideo was a de facto standard for anime fansubs, which have been used by anime fans to distribute movies and TV shows to areas where they aren't otherwise available. RealVideo became popular because of its (then) superior quality at exceedingly low bitrates.
RealVideo was originally introduced in 1997 and in 2008 had hit version 11.
The video is normally packed in a RealMedia (.rm) container along with RealAudio. is usually paired with RealAudio and packaged in a container.
The technology is based on a constant bitrate transfer, but RealNetworks has released RMVB which allows for improved variable bitrate transfers. The original RealVideo was based on the H.263 codec up until RealVideo 8 was released and the company moved to its own proprietary video codec.
RealVideo has fallen out of favor in the last few years to FLV and Quicktime and many feel the RealVideo player is bloatware and should never be installed on one's computer.
Relevant Guides
How to Convert multiple files types to DVD with DVDSanta- DVDSanta is a nice piece of software that allows you to complete various tasks. Firstly it allows you convert your video files to DVD. It supports many formats including AVI, WMV, MPG, ASF, RealVideo etc.. In just a few simple steps, you can convert your files to DVD with DVDSanta, it will even author your DVD and then you can use the built in burning tool to burn it. It will also convert your audio into MP2 format.
How to play RMVB files- RMVB is a RealMedia Variable Bitrate file. RMVB is one of the newest file formats created by Real Networks and it has grown a pretty large following since its introduction due to its smaller file sizes yet still comparable quality when compared to other formats such as Xvid and DivX. This guide will show you how to play RMVB files on your computer using several players not including Real Network's own RealPlayer.
