VCD Version

VCD stands for Video CD, and it is a special CD that includes Audio as well as Video on it.

A video cd can store 'about' 1 hour of a movie, so most VCDs movies come on 2 disks some longer films come on 3 disks.

If you are familiar with regular audio/music CDs, then you will know what a VCD looks like. A VCD has the capacity to hold up to 74/80 minutes on 650MB/700MB CDs respectively of full-motion video along with quality stereo sound. VCDs use a compression standard called MPEG to store the video and audio. A VCD can be played on almost all standalone DVD Players and of course on all computers with a DVD-ROM or CD-ROM drive with the help of a software based decoder / player. It is also possible to use menus and chapters, similar to DVDs, on a VCD and also simple photo album/slide shows with background audio. The quality of a very good VCD is a better quality then a VHS tape based movie.

How to play a VCD

VCDs are meant to be watched on TVs. For this, the TV need to be connected to a consumer electronic device known as the VCD player. VCDs can also played on most new DVD player devices built after 2001. Some gaming consoles also support VCD playback. So you can enjoy a VCD Movie:

On all VCD Players
On all DVD Players (build after 2001), check for compability list or here
Playstations with VCD-addon (Playstation 2 does NOT support VCDs)
Sega Saturn with VCD-addon
Dreamcast with VCD-addon
And of course on all computers with a CD-ROMs/DVD-ROMs with a software VCD/MPG Player.

►Please read our FULL details on HOW TO PLAY A VCD here

Version 1.0

For DVD Players:

This is the most basic Video CD 'specification' dating back to 1993/4, which has the following characteristics:

One mode 2 mixed form ISO-9660 track containing file pointers to the information areas.
Up to 98 multiplex-ed mpeg-1 audio/video streams or cd-da audio tracks.
Up to 500 mpeg sequence entry points used as chapter divisions.

The Video CD specification requires the multiplex-ed mpeg-1 stream to have a cbr of less than 174300 bytes (1394400 bits) per second 5 in order to accommodate single speed cd-rom drives. The specification allows for the following two resolutions:

352 x 240 @ 29.97 Hz (ntsc sif).
352 x 240 @ 23.976 Hz (film sif).

>> A VCD with Version 1.0 is playable by most DVD Players that are build after 2001, and by most DVD Players built before 2001.

If you have an old DVD Player (built before 2001), then you better the check the User Manual and look for the VCD capability. If you see that your DVD Player can play DVDs as well as VCDs, than you can be sure that it can reads the VCD 1.0 Standards. check for compability list or here

If you are not sure whether your DVD player is capable to playback vcd, just confirm this labels do appear on your player owner manual

Disc Label

For Computers:

Version 1.0: the older version of VCDs can be played by special VCD players like the one BestArabic offers free to download. You can download the VCD Player here and enjoy your VCDs.

Version 2.0

For DVD Players:

About two years after the Video CD 1.0 specification came out, an improved Video CD 2.0 standard was published in 1995. This one added the following items to the features already available in the Video CD 1.0 specification:

Support for mpeg segment play items (SPI ), consisting of still pictures, motion pictures and/or audio (only) streams was added.
Support for interactive playback control (PBC) was added.
Support for playing related access by providing a scan point index file was added.(‘/EXT/SCANDATA.DAT’)
Support for closed captions.
Support for mixing ntsc and pal content.

By adding PAL support to the Video CD 1.1 specification, the following resolutions became available:

352 x 240 @ 29.97 Hz (ntsc sif).
352 x 240 @ 23.976 Hz (film sif).
352 x 288 @ 25 Hz (pal sif).

For segment play items the following audio encodings became available:

Joint stereo, stereo or dual channel audio streams at 128, 192, 224 or 384 kbit/sec bit-rate.
Mono audio streams at 64, 96 or 192 kbit/sec bit-rate.

This new standard is readable by almost ALL DVD Players, those built before 2001, as well as those built after 2001. The new Standard made VCD even more popular since it can be watched on almost ANY DVD player in the world !!!

For Computers:

Version 2.0: the new version of VCDs can be played on Windows Media Player and has NO PROBLEM at all with all other Video Programs ( Real, Xero, ect...)

More General QUESTIONS

I am having problems viewing the VCD on my Player?

Please read our FULL details on HOW TO PLAY A VCD here

Can my DVD Player play NTSC or PAL VCDs? Is there any problem?

Some people may worry on PAL / NTSC color format come with VCD, we personally do not have such concern seriously cause its hardly to be detectable. In addition, most DVD player as well as TV set were produced with the capability to auto detect video s color system, they will reproduce video signal to match with each other and that will completely eliminated all your worry, provided your DVD player or TV only accept specific color system, you might not having any problem at all to playback vcd.

Are DVDs and Video CDs the same?

No. Although DVD players will be able play Video CD movies as well as DVD movies. DVD movies are encoded using a compression technique called MPEG2. Video CD on the other hand is encoded using MPEG1 compression. Since MPEG2 decoders (your DVD player) are backward compatible, most of the time, you will be able to play Video CD using your DVD player. However, you cannot play DVD using your Video CD players. Please consult your player s manual for confirmation.

Why are VCDs gaining popularity in USA/ Canada, Australia and Europe?

Nowadays, VCDs have practically replaced video cassettes in Asia. The main reason is because VCD is cheap compared to DVDs and the quality is even better than VHS. It can also last much longer than VHS and has no drop in sound/picture quality when stored for a long time. It is much smaller in size, easier to store, that is why it is ideal for movie collectors! One good aspect is that it can be played on DVD, LD players, a computer and many other devices. Also, the popularity of VCDs is on the rise because of the gaining interest among Americans and Canadians for Arabic and Oriental movies.

The audio/video quality of VCD is always 'better' than VHS tape based Movies and it can carry surround sound effect.

Support and Links

You can also head to these following sites for a more involved explanation and help: