SVCD is a successor for extremely popular video format called VideoCD which was based on MPEG-1 video encoding. SVCD itself contains MPEG-2 video stream and MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 audio stream (MPEG-1 stereo audio layer II, MPEG-2 stereo audio layer II or MPEG-2 Multi-Channel 5.1 surround audio). It's video bitrate is normally higher than VideoCD's -- clear difference to VideoCD is the fact that SVCD doesn't specify a certain bitrate for video. Unspecified video bitrate also causes a situation where one SVCD disc can contain various amount of video -- normally one SVCD disc contains 35-40 minutes of video, but by reducing the bitrate, one CD can hold up to 74 minutes of video (which is the same amount what VCD disc contains).
As an addition, SVCD can also contain multiple audio streams (just like a DVD-Video can), subtitles, still images, multi-level hierarchical menus, chapters (for indexing), hyperlinks and playlists.
Just like VCDs (and audio CDs), SVCDs require a specific way how they are burned on the CD -- just sticking all the required files into CD structure doesn't make disc a SVCD compatible. Most of the new CD burning applications support SVCD already, so authoring your own SVCDs should be relatively easy.
SVCD's resolution is 2x higher than VCD's, in PAL the resolution is 480x576 and in NTSC it is 480x480. Framerates are 25fps and 29.97fps, just like in any other video format. SVCD's quality is somewhere between VideoCD and DVD-Video. Most of the DVD players can play SVCD discs which makes is perfect format for backing up your DVD movies and a very good alternative for DivX ;-) format.
SVCD has also gained popularity among movie studios -- in Far East distribution, of course -- and most of the studios already release their movies in SVCD format in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, etc...
Related Guides
How to play Bin and CUE files- If you have downloaded .bin and .cue files and you are sure that they are video content, then this article will tell you your options on how to play them. SVCDs will be in these formats.
SVCD to DVD±R with DVD-Lab (From CD-Images or MPEG Files)-If you have just gotten a DVD Burner and still have SVCD's either as CD Images or MPEG files on your HDD, you probably thought already of putting those SVCD's on DVD but the thought of re-encoding might put you off. Well, thanks to DVD-Lab, you can now put SVCD on DVD without re-encoding the video.
How to convert AVI files (DivX, XviD etc.) to DVD with Avi2DVD-Avi2DVD is a new GUI that uses freeware tools to perform conversions such as AVI to DVD, SVCD, VCD or DVD to DVD, SVCD or VCD.
How to put multiple SVCD movies on one DVD±R-This guide will show you how to put multiple SVCD movies on to one DVDR disc. Your SVCD's can be either already burned to CD's, CD Images (eg bin/cue) or MPEG files on your HDD. There will be no re-encoding of the video stream so technically this DVD will be non standard. However, the method used has been tested and has a huge success rate.
Burning movies to DVD, VCD, SVCD using AVS Video Converter- AVS Video Converter enables you to burn a DVD movie to playback in your home DVD player from all modern video formats. The integrated DVD/VCD burning engine and the widest range of supported video formats make AVS Video Converter a perfect tool to create personal DVD movies. Just follow these few steps listed below.
