DivX is not a real standard, it is the name given to a video codec, encoding and decoding video software, and is based on the MPEG-4 compression format. Because of the high compression in high picture quality in the MPEG-4 format, DivX uses only a fraction of the size of a standard DVD.
This makes it the best home video format thus far.
DivX combines high video quality with a wide range of audio quality from low voice recordings to multichannel audio.
| VCD | SVCD | DVD | DivX | |
| Video Format |
MPEG-1 | MPEG-2 | MPEG-2 | MPEG-4 |
| Video Bitrate |
1.15 Mbps | 1.5-2.5 Mbps | 3-8 Mbps | 1-10 Mbps |
| Audio Format |
MPEG-1 | MPEG-1 | AC3 / DTS / PCM MPEG-1 / MPEG2 |
AC3 / AAC / MP3 PCM / WMA |
| Audio Bitrate |
224 kbps | 128-384 kbps | 192-448 kbps | 32-448 kbps |
| Resolution |
NTSC: 352x240 PAL: 352x288 |
NTSC: 480x480 PAL: 480x576 |
720x480 720x576 |
up to 1920x1088 |
| Time on Disk |
74-80 minutes | 74-80 minutes | 240 minutes | depends on the used media |