DVDs or Digital Versatile Disc was created as an alternative to CDs which were quiet inadequate for storing videos as its low capacity meant that a full length movie usually required two discs and playback is stopped in the middle to change discs. DVDs overcame that limitation and allows the continuous playback of movies and adding bonus features like outtakes and deleted scenes. Since DVD is a media format, it doesn’t really dictate on which format the data stored in it takes. It can hold various types of data like audio, computer data, and the more usual video. Even the video can be encoded by multiple codecs aside from standard DVD like DivX and Xvid. Xvid is a lossy compression algorithm that is based on DivX that provides high quality videos that come in a relatively smaller file size.
Videos encoded in Xvid are not supported by standard DVD players and are therefore incompatible. Xvid videos are usually played in computers or portable media players that have DivX support. This is understandable as Xvid gained popularity in passing along videos in the internet where file size is as important as the video quality. In more recent days, the popularity of the lossy encoders like DivX and Xvid led to manufacturers adding support for the more popular DivX codec to their set top DVD players. This allows people to burn their videos to DVDs and watching it on their TV which usually have larger screens than a personal computer.
The development of Xvid also created incompatibilities with the DivX format from which it was based on. It is therefore necessary for people who wants their Xvid encoded videos to be viewable in DivX players to set the right options to make it compatible with DivX. This means that some of the features in Xvid that is considered to be far superior to DivX cannot be used if you want to view these videos in a set top DVD players.
Summary:
1. DVD is a media format for storing videos while Xvid is a method of compressing video
2. DVD was developed to provide a larger capacity alternative to CDs
3. Xvid encoded videos are not compatible with standard DVD players
4. Xvid encoded videos are compatible with DivX and can often be played in players that are DivX capable
5. DivX capable players are not also capable of playing all Xvid encoded videos