Timeline of Audio-Visual Codecs since 1991

A codec is short for "Coding-Decoding" a digital data stream, and has been used as a computer word since the 1970s. Can also be thought of as "Compressing-Decompressing" from a speed perspective, as streaming gets smarter.

Year	Codec	Who by	Container file extension	Comments
1991	Quicktime	Apple	.mov also .qt	Launched by Apple
1992	Video for Windows	Microsoft	.avi also .mp4	Launched by Microsoft as AVI using audio-video interleave
1993	MPEG-1	MPEG	.mpg, .mpeg	Launched by the Moving Pictures Expert Group
1993	MPEG-1 Audio Layer III	MPEG	.mp3
1996	MPEG-2	MPEG	.mpg, .mpeg, .m2v	Standard for DVDs and early digital television
1997	Adobe Flash	Adobe	.flv	To be no longer supported after 2020
1999	MPEG-4	MPEG	.mp4	Standard for Blu-Ray discs, later released in 2006
1999	WMV based on MPEG-4 Part 2	Microsoft	.wmv	Launched by Microsoft as part of Windows
2003	H.264 AVC MPEG-4 Part 10	MPEG	.mp4	Popular with Blu-Ray, HD TV, Netflix, Youtube streaming
2012	VP9	Google	.webm	Youtube, also popular with Netflix streaming
2013	H.265 HEVC MPEG-H Part 2	MPEG	.mp4	Upgraded version of H.264

In June 2020, MPEG "was closed" with its working groups becoming part of SC29 in Japan. Ultra HD (Ultra High Definition Television i.e. 4K and 8K) was initially proposed by NHK Science & Technology Research Laboratories in Tokyo. It was later defined and approved by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), note, 4K and 8K can use multiple file extensions.

Windows Media Player, now Media Player, comes standard with Windows 10 and 11. Another popular player on PCs is VLC Media Player which downloads Codecs as necessary.

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