Aformat waris a competition between similar but mutually incompatible technical standards that compete for the same market, such as fordata storage devicesandrecording formatsforelectronic media.It is often characterized by political and financial influence oncontentpublishers by the developers of the technologies. Developing companies may be characterized as engaging in a format war if they actively oppose or avoidinteroperableopen-industrytechnical standardsin favor of their own.
A format war emergence can be explained because each vendor is trying to exploit cross-side network effects in atwo-sided market.There is also a social force to stop a format war: when one of them wins asde factostandard,it solves acoordination problem[1]for the format users.[dubious–discuss]
Similarly, in the United States there was incompatibility between railroads built to thestandard gaugeand those built to the so-calledRussian gauge.During the initial period of railroad building, standard gauge was adopted in most of thenortheastern United States,while the wider gauge, later called "Russian", was preferred in most of the southern states. In 1886, the southern railroads agreed to coordinate changing gauge on all their tracks. By June 1886, all major railroads in North America were using what was effectively the same gauge.
Direct currentvs.alternating current:The 1880s saw the spread ofelectric lightingwith large utilities and manufacturing companies supplying it. The systems initially ran on direct current (DC) and alternating current (AC) with low voltage DC used for interior lighting and high voltage DC and AC running very bright exteriorarc lighting.[2]With the invention of the ACtransformerin the mid 1880s, alternating current could be stepped up in voltage for long range transmission and stepped down again for domestic use, making it a much more efficient transmission standard now directly competing with DC for the indoor lighting market. In the U.S.Thomas Edison'sEdison Electric Light Companytried to protect its patent controlled DC market by playing on the public's fears of the dangers of high voltage AC, portraying their main AC competitor,George Westinghouse'sWestinghouse Electric Company,as purveyors of an unsafe system, a back and forth financial and propaganda competition that came to be known as thewar of the currents,[3]even promoting AC for theElectric chairexecution device. AC, with its more economic transmission would prevail, supplanting DC.
Musical boxes:Several manufacturers introduced musical boxes that utilised interchangeable steel disks that carried the tune. The principal players werePolyphon,Symphonion (in Europe) andRegina(in the United States). Each manufacturer used its own unique set of disc sizes (which varied depending on the exact model purchased). This assured that once the purchaser had bought a music box, they had to buy the music discs from the same manufacturer.
Player pianos:In stark contrast to almost every other entertainment medium of the 20th century and beyond, a looming format war involving paper roll music for player pianos was averted when industry leaders agreed upon a common format at theBuffalo Conventionheld inBuffalo, New Yorkin 1908. The agreed-upon format was a roll 11.25 inches (286 mm) wide. This allowed any roll of music to be played in any player piano, regardless of who manufactured it. As the music played, the paper winds onto the lower roll from the upper roll, which means any text or song lyrics printed on the rolls is read from the bottom to the top.
Early recording media formats:cylinder recordsversusdisc records.In 1877Thomas Edisoninvented sound recording and reproduction using tinfoil wrapped around a pre-grooved cylinder, and in 1888 he introduced the wax "Edison cylinder" as the standard record format. In the 1890sEmile Berlinerbegan marketing disc records and players. By the late 1890s cylinders and discs were in competition. Cylinders were more expensive to manufacture and the wax was fragile, but most cylinder players could make recordings. Discs saved space and were cheaper and sturdier, but due to theconstant angular velocity(CAV) of their rotation, the sound quality varied noticeably from the groove near the outer edge to the inner portion nearest the center; and disc record players could not make recordings.
Gramophone recordformats: lateral versus vertical "hill-and-dale" groove cutting. When Edison introduced his "Diamond Disc"(played with a diamond stylus instead of a steel needle) record in 1912, it was cut" hill-and-dale ", meaning that the groove was modulated along its vertical axis, as it had been on all cylinders—unlike other manufacturers' discs, which were cut laterally, meaning that their grooves were of constant depth and modulated along the horizontal axis. Machines designed to play lateral-cut discs could not play vertical-cut ones and vice versa.Pathé Recordsalso adopted the hill-and-dale format for their discs, first issued in 1906, but they used a very wide, shallow groove, played with a small sapphire ball, which was incompatible with Edison products. In 1929 Thomas Edison quit the record industry, ceasing all production of both discs and cylinders. Pathé had been making a transition to the lateral format during the 1920s and in 1932 decisively abandoned the vertical format. There was no standard speed for all disc records until 78 rpm was settled on during the latter half of the 1920s, although because most turntables could be adjusted to run at a fairly wide range of speeds that did not really constitute a format war. SomeBerliner Gramophonediscs played at about 60 rpm. Some of Pathé's largest discs, which were 50 cm (nearly 20 inches) in diameter, played at 120 rpm. Diamond Discs were 80 rpm. Those makers aside, speeds in the mid-70s were more usual.
In addition, there were several more minor "format wars" between the various brands using various speeds ranging from 72 to 96 rpm, as well as needle or stylus radii varying from 0.0018 to 0.004 inches (0.046 to 0.102 mm) – the current 0.003-inch (0.076 mm) radius needle or stylus is a compromise as no company actually used this size. The most common sizes were 0.0028 inches (0.071 mm), used by Columbia, and 0.0032 inches (0.081 mm), used by HMV/Victor.[4]
240-line versus405-linetelevisionbroadcasts. In 1936, theBBC Television Servicecommencedtelevision broadcastingfromAlexandra Palacein North London. They began by using two differenttelevision standardsbroadcasting in alternate weeks. The 240-lineBairdsequential system was broadcast using a mechanical scanning apparatus. In the intervening weeks,EMI-Marconibroadcast in 405-line interlaced using fully electronic cameras. Early sets had to support both systems, adding to their complexity. It was the BBC's intention to run the two systems side by side for a six-month trial to determine which would be finally adopted. The BBC quickly discovered that the fully electronic EMI system had a superiorpicture qualityand less flicker, and the camera equipment was much more mobile and transportable (Baird'sintermediate-filmcameras had to be bolted to the studio floor as they required awater supplyanddrainage). The trial concluded after only three months after Baird's studios had lost most of their equipment in a fire.
Vinyl records:Columbia Records' Long Play (LP) 33⅓ rpmmicrogrooverecord (introduced in 1948) versusRCA Victor's 7-inch (18 cm) 45 rpm record, from 1949 (the introduction of the latter) into c. 1951. The battle ended because each format found a separate marketing niche (LP forclassical musicrecordings, 45 for the pop "singles"market) and most new record players were capable of playing both types.
The National Television System Committee (NTSC) was formed to settle the existing format incompatibility between the original 441 scan line RCA system and systems designed by theDuMont Television NetworkandPhilco.In March 1941 the committee issued its plan for what is now known asNTSC,which has been the standard for television signals in the United States and most countries influenced by the U.S. until the adoption ofdigitalandHD televisionformats with the official adoption ofATSCon June 12, 2009.
The National Television System Committee (NTSC) was reconvened in January 1950 to decide the revision to their original format to allow for color broadcasting. There were competitive format options offered by theColumbia Broadcasting Systemthat were not downwardly compatible with the existingNTSCformat.
In the early 1950s, 12 volt electric systems were introduced toautomobilesin an effort to provide more starting power for bigengineswhich were getting popular at the time; while reducing the current. Six volt systems were still popular since they were commonplace prior to the decade. However, 12 volt systems became the de facto standard.
Portable audio formats:8-trackandfour-trackcartridges vs.Compact Cassette,vs the lesser knownDC-Internationaltape cassette (introduced byGrundig). While rather successful into the mid-to-late 1970s, the 8-track eventually lost out due to technical limitations, including variable audio quality and inability to be rewound. Similarly the smaller formats ofmicrocassette,developed byOlympus,andminicassette,developed bySony,were manufactured for applications requiring lower audio fidelity such asdictationandtelephone answering machines.
FM radiostereo broadcast formats: TheCrosby systemand theGE/Zenithsystem. The Crosby system was technically superior, especially in transmitting clear stereo signals, due to its use of an FMsubcarrierfor stereo sound rather than the AM subcarrier employed by GE/Zenith. Many radios built in this period allowed the user to select Crosby or GE/Zenith listening modes. However the Crosby system was incompatible with the more lucrativeSCAservices such as in-store broadcasting andbackground music.FM station owners successfully lobbied theFCCto adopt the GE/Zenith system in 1961, which was SCA-compatible.
VariousQuadraphonicencoding methods: CD-4, SQ, QS-Matrix, and others. The expense (and speaker placement troubles) of quadraphonic, coupled with the competing formats requiring various demodulators and decoders, led to an early demise of quadraphonic, though 8-track tape experienced a temporary boost from the introduction of the Q8 form of8-track cartridge.Quadraphonic sound returned in the 1990s substantially updated assurround sound,but incompatible with old hardware.
JVCVHSvs.SonyBetamaxvs.PhilipsVideo 2000,theanalog videovideotape format war.The competition started in 1976 and by 1980, VHS controlled 70% of the North American market. VHS's main advantage was its longer recording time. From the consumer perspective, VHS blank media held more hours and therefore was less expensive.
The first small format video recording devices were openreel-to-reel1/2 "" portable "EIAJ-1recorders, most of which came withtelevision tunersto record TV broadcasts. These never caught on in the consumer market but did find their way intoeducational televisionand were the mainstays of earlypublic-access televisionstations. The uniformity of the EIAJ-1 format was the result of a developmental format war between Sony and Panasonic, each of whom were aiming at this market. The existence of theElectronic Industries Association of Japan(EIAJ) was the Japanese electronics industry's answer to some potential format wars.
Capacitance Electronic Disc(CED) vs.LaserDisc(LD) vs.VHD(Video High-Density), non-recordablevideo discformats. All of these ultimately failed to achieve widespread acceptance, although LD found a considerablevideophileniche market that appreciated its high quality image, chapter select and widescreen presentation. The LaserDisc remained available until the arrival of the DVD. Mainstream consumers preferred the recordable videotape for capturing broadcast television and makinghome movies,and made VHS the de facto standard video format for almost 20 years (circa 1982 to 2002).
AM stereowas capable of fidelity equivalent toFMbut was doomed in the United States by competing formats during the 1980s withMotorola'sC-QUAMcompeting vigorously with three other incompatible formats including those byMagnavox,Kahn/Hazeltine,andHarris.It is still widely used in Japan, and sees sporadic use by broadcast stations in the United States despite the lack of consumer equipment to support it.
Video8vs.VHS-Cand laterHi8vs.S-VHS-Ctape formats (seecamcorder). This is an extension of the VHS vs. Betamax format war, but here neither format "won" widespread acceptance. Video8 had the advantage in terms of recording time (4 hours versus 2 hours maximum), but consumers also liked VHS-C since it could easily play in their homeVCRs,thus the two formats essentially split the camcorder market in half. Both formats were superseded by digital systems by 2011.
Micro Channel Architecture(MCA) vs.Extended Industry Standard Architecture(EISA). Up to the introduction of MCA,personal computershad relied on a 16 bit expansion system which was later christened 'Industry Standard Architecture' (ISA).IBMintroduced a new range of personal computers featuring a new 32 bit expansion system which they called MCA. It was at this point that the rest of the personal computer industry named the existing expansion system as ISA. IBM wanted substantial royalties from any manufacturer wishing to adopt the MCA system (largely in an attempt to recover lost royalties that they believed that they were owed due to the wholesale cloning of their original 'PC', a task that was greatly simplified by the 'off the shelf' nature of the design). IBM's competitors jointly responded by introducing the EISA expansion system which, unlike MCA, was fully compatible with the existing ISA cards. Eventually, neither MCA nor EISA really caught on, and thePCIstandard was adopted instead.
Philips'Digital Compact Cassette(DCC) vs. Sony'sMiniDisc(MD): both introduced in 1992. Since affordableCD-Rwas not available until about 1996, DCC and MD were an attempt to bring CD-quality recording to the home consumer. Restrictions by record companies fearful of perfect digital copies had limited an earlier digital system (DAT) to professional use. In response, Sony introduced the MiniDisc format which provided a copy control system that seemed to allay record companies' fears. Philips introduced their DCC system around the same time using the same copy control system. Philips' DCC was discontinued in 1996 but MD successfully captured the Asia Pacific market (e.g. Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, etc.) and initially did well in parts of Europe. The consumers in other parts of the world chose neither format, preferring to stick with analogCompact Cassettesfor homeaudio recording,and eventually upgrading to now affordableCD recordablediscs andlossy-compressedMP3formats. Production of MiniDisc systems finally ceased in 2013, however Sony continues to produce blank discs in Japan to this day.
RockwellX2vsK56flex– In the race to achieve fastertelephone linemodemspeeds from the then-standard 9.6kbit/s,many companies developed proprietary formats such as V.32 Turbo (19.2 kbit/s) or TurboPEP (23.0 kbit/s) or V.FAST (28.8 kbit/s), hoping to gain an edge on the competition. The X2 and K56flex formats were a continuation of that ongoing battle for market dominance until the V.90 standard was developed in 1999. For some time, online providers needed to maintain two modem banks to provide dial-up access for both technologies. (See "modem"for a complete history.)
Medium-capacity removablemagnetic mediadrives, with several incompatible formats—a small market ofwrite-onceoptical drives(requiring the use of a protective, plastic jacket) and several more successful but also incompatible magnetic read-write cassette drives. TheI OmegaZipformat ultimately prevailed, with capacities of 100 and 250 megabytes, plus the rather less popular 750 MB system; but these media and their drives were quickly supplanted by the much slower but far cheaper recordable compact discCD-R(early models use a caddy to ensure proper alignment and help protect the disc). The CD-R has the advantage of existing wide industry standards support (theRed BookCD-DAstandard for audio discs and theYellow BookCD-ROMstandard for data read-only CD), with the low-level recording format based upon the popular and low-cost read-only compact disc used for audio and data. Sony tried to establish "MD Data"Discs as an alternative, based on their MiniDisc R&D, with two computer peripherals:MDH-10andMDM-111.
External bus transfer protocols:IEEE 1394(FireWire) vs.USB.The proliferation of both standards has led to the inclusion of redundant hardware adapters in many computers, unnecessary versioning of external hardware, etc. FireWire has been marginalized to high-throughput media devices (such ashigh-definitionvideocameraequipment) andlegacy hardware.
3D graphicsAPIs:DirectXvs.OpenGLvs.Glide API.In the latter half of the 1990s, as 3D graphics became more common and popular, several video formats were promoted by different vendors. The proliferation of standards (each having many versions with frequent and significant changes) led to great complexity, redundancy, and frustrating hardware and software compatibility issues. 3D graphics applications (such as games) attempted to support a variety of APIs with varying results, or simply supported only a single API. Moreover, the complexity of the emerginggraphics pipeline(display adapter -> display adapter driver -> 3D graphics API -> application) led to a great number of incompatibilities, leading to unstable, underperforming, or simply inoperative software. Glide eventually dropped out of the war due to the only manufacturer supporting it — that is,3dfx — ceasing production of theirvideo cards.
Video disc formats: MMCD versus SD. In the early 1990s two high-density optical storage standards were being developed: one was the MultiMedia Compact Disc (MMCD), backed byPhilipsandSony,and the other was the Super Density disc (SD), supported byToshiba,Matsushita and many others. MMCD was optionally double-layer while SD was optionally double-sided. Movie studio support was split. This format war was settled before either went to market, by unifying the two formats. Following pressure by IBM, Philips and Sony abandoned their MMCD format and agreed upon the SD format with one modification based on MMCD technology, viz. EFMPlus. The unified disc format, which included both dual-layer and double-sided options, was calledDVDand was introduced in Japan in 1996 and in the rest of the world in 1997.
More video disc formats:Video CDversus theDVD.While the MMCD and SD war was going on, Philips developed their own video format called theVideo CD.While the format quickly flopped in the U.S., in Europe and Japan the battle waged on fiercely, as the VideoCD's lower production cost (and thus sales price) versus the DVD's superioraudiovisualquality andmultimediaexperience resulted in a split market audience, with one end wanting cheap media without minding the lower quality and multimedia richness, while the other willing to pay a premium for the better experience DVD offered. The battle was settled by the movie industry who rapidly refused to issue any more VCD discs once CD recorders became available. Unlike DVD, the VCD format had nocopy protectionmechanism whatsoever.
Digital video formats:DVDversusDIVX(not to be confused withDivX). DIVX was a rental scheme where the end consumer would purchase a $2–3 disc similar to DVD but could only view the disc for 48 hours after the first use, similar to another rental scheme,Flexplay.Each subsequent view would require a phoneline connection to purchase another $2–3 rental period. Several Hollywood studios (Disney,20th Century-Fox,andParamount Pictures) initially released their movies exclusively in the DIVX format.[5]However, video rental services found the multi-use DVD more attractive, and videophiles who collected films rejected the idea of apay-per-viewdisc.
Adapter for SD to CF(I)
Memory cards,with several implementations:CompactFlashvs.Memory Stickvs.MultiMediaCard(MMC) vs.Secure Digital card(SD) vs.SmartMediavs.Miniature Card.[6]The format war became even more confusing with introduction ofxD-Picture Card,XQD cardandCFastin the next decade. This ongoing contest is complicated by the existence of multiple variants of the various formats. Some of these, such asminiSD/microSD,are compatible with their parent formats, while later Memory Sticks break compatibility with the original format. After SD was introduced in 1999, it eventually won the war in the early 2000s[7]decade when companies that had exclusively supported other formats in the past, such asFujifilm,OlympusandSony,began to use SD card in their products. The CF slots continued to be favoured for high-end cameras, but there are adapters for SD cards to be used in them.
Hi-fidigital audiodiscs:DVD-AudioversusSACD.These discs offered all the advantages of a CD but with higher audio quality. The players and discs were reverse compatible (the new Hi-fi players could play most 12 cm optical disc formats) but listening to the newer formats require a hardware upgrade. SACD was acclaimed by Sony marketeers as offering slightly better technical quality through its newPDM"bitstream" system and a greater number of SACD titles available. However, the two formats continue to coexist due to "hybrid" players that play both formats with equal ease. Neither DVD-Audio nor SACD won a significant percentage of the recorded audio market. A significant reason was the customer preference for easy-to-transportlossy compressedformats such asMP3andAAC.In 2013, music companies led byUniversal Music Grouphave launchedBlu-ray Discswith high-resolutionPCMaudio, branded asHigh Fidelity Pure Audio,as an alternative format with the same objectives.
Wireless communication standards: Through the late 1990s, proponents ofBluetooth(such asSony-Ericsson) andWiFicompeted to gain support for positioning one of these standards as the de facto computer-to-computer wireless communication protocol. This competition ended around 2000 with WiFi the undisputed winner (largely due to a very slow rollout of Bluetooth networking products). However, in the early 2000s, Bluetooth was repurposed as a device-to-computerwireless communicationstandard, and has succeeded well in this regard. Today's computers often feature separate equipment for both types of wireless communication, and both are ubiquitous in modern smartphones.
Disk imageformats for capturing digital versions of removablecomputer media(particularly CD-ROMs and DVD-ROMs): ISO vs. CUE/BIN vs. NRG vs. MDS vs. DAA, etc. Although the details of capturing images are complex (e.g., the oddities of various copy protection technologies applied to removable media), image formats have proliferated beyond reason - mainly because producers of image-creating software often like to create a new format with touted properties in order to bolster market share.
Single-serve coffee containers:Major players includeNestlé’sNespressowhich started in 1976, but became popular in the late 1990s and was later joined bySenseo,Caffitaly,KeurigandTassimo.These systems were created to give out a single serving of freshground coffeethrough a capsule. By the end of the 2010s, as thepatentson the original systems expired, allowing rival companies to make cheaper capsules, Nespresso came out on top in most of the world, but Keurig dominated the North American market.
Recordable DVD formats:DVD+RversusDVD-RandDVD-RAM.DVD-RAM has largely relegated to a niche market, but both of the other recordable DVD formats remain available. Since practically all PC based DVD drives and most new DVD recorders support both formats (designated as DVD±R recorders), the 'war' is effectively moot.
Digital audiodata compressionformats:MP3versusOgg Vorbisversus MPEG4Advanced Audio Codingversus HE-AAC/AACplus versusWindows Media AudiocodecsversusFree Lossless Audio Codec(FLAC). Each format has found its own niche — MPEG1 audio layer 3, abbreviated MP3, was developed for audio encoding of the DVD and has remained a de facto standard for audio encoding. A technically better compression technique, MPEG4 (more commonly known as AAC) was subsequently developed and found favor with most commercial music distributors. The addition ofSpectral Band Replication(AACplus or HE-AAC) allows the format to recreate high-frequency components/harmonics missing from other compressed music. Vorbis is most commonly used by game developers who have need for a high-quality audio, do not want to pay the licensing fees attached to other codecs, and did not need existing compatibility and name-recognition of MP3.Flac,alosslessformat, emerged later and has become accepted by audiophiles. Consumer outcry against software incompatibility has prompted portable music player manufacturers such as Apple and Creative to support multiple formats.
High-definitionoptical discformats:Blu-ray Disc versus HD DVD.Several disc formats that were intended to improve on the performance of the DVD were developed, including Sony'sBlu-rayand Toshiba'sHD DVD,as well asHVD,FVDandVMD.The first HD-DVD player was released in March 2006, followed quickly by a Blu-ray player in June 2006. In addition to the home video standalone players for each format, Sony'sPlayStation 3video game console offers a Blu-ray Disc player and its games use that format as well.[8]Theformat warwent largely in Blu-ray's favor after the largest movie studio supporting HD DVD,Warner Bros.,decided to abandon releasing films on HD-DVD in January 2008.[9]In 2008, Toshiba decided to abandon the format too.[10]Shortly thereafter, several major North American rental services and retailers such asNetflix,Best Buy,Walmart,etc. and disc manufacturers such asCMC Magnetics,Ritek,Anwell,and others, announced the exclusive support for Blu-ray products, ending the format war.
Automotive interfaces for chargingmobile devices:cigar lighter receptaclesdelivered 12 volts DC andUSB5 volts. The 5-volt system derived fromPCdata buses, while the 12 volt system derived from the automobile's electrical system. The popularity of cigar-lighter-to-USB adapters for charging cell phones is what led to this movement, and later automobiles were equipped with both (sometimes with USB on thecar radiofaceplate).
Universal charger:USBis an industry standard that allows data exchange and delivery of power between many types of electronics.USB-Chas become a widespread standard for charging mobile phones.
TheITU-R Recommendation BT.2020had defined 10 bit for each color channel for the future8KUHDTVin 2012. Dolby developed an extension forDolby Cinemain 2014 where the newDolby Visionformat has a12 bit color depthper channel. Dolby Vision is notroyalty freeso that Samsung developed an alternativeHDR10+format forHDR videoin 2017. Its rival LG does support Dolby Vision. With widespread availability of HDR television during 2018 it can be seen that products supporting Dolby Vision do also allow HDR10+ as input.
