AVCHD VS MP4 – Which One is the Better Output Option for Sony and Panasonic Devices

Q: I got a Canon XA25 that can record both in AVCHD and MP4. Which format works best for editing in premiere elements? I'm mostly interested in getting elements to work smoothly and lag free.

Q: The Canon C100 can record in either AVCHD or MP4. Which one is better to use? I want to know differences between AVCHD VS MP4.

A: MP4 and AVCHD are the two most widely used video recording formats with their set of pros and cons. Although there are many similarities between the two formats, the main difference between them is their use and practicality. To help you decide which format is more appropriate for your requirements, the following article will compare AVCHD VS MP4 in more details.

Tips: We have already analyzed an article about XAVC S VS AVCHD, if you are interested in this topic, just click to view.

From one layman's point of view, the most straightforward difference between the two formats is the file extension. AVCHD or MP4, although they both recording video codec as MPEG-4 AVC/H.264, generally, AVCHD file is saved as .m2ts extension, while the MP4 file is saved as .mp4 file extension.

Related articles about M2TS and MP4: M2TS to MKV | M2TS to MP4 | MP4 to MKV | MP4 to Xvid

Winner: Draw

From a technical point of view, both AVCHD and MP4 use MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 as the video codec, but the audio codec for AVCHD is Dolby® Digital AC-3, while the audio codec for MP4 is MPEG-4 AAC LC.

Tips: AVC is an acronym for Advanced Video Coding.

AAC is an acronym for Advanced Audio Coding.

LC is an acronym for Low Complexity.

Winner: Draw

From the visual senses, AVCHD owns the highest resolution quality images by Sony and Panasonic devices, its image quality is amazing. Let's see the difference in parameters.

AVCHD: Picture size/Scan mode (Aspect ratio) 1920x1080/60i, 50i (16:9) 1440x1080/60i, 50i (16:9)

MP4: Picture size/Scan mode (Aspect ratio) 1440x1080/30p (16:9) 1280x720/30p (16:9) 640x480/30p (4:3)

Judged from the comparison, you can easily find the quality for AVCHD is much better than the MP4 format. In this case, you can use the above recommended video converter to convert AVCHD to MP4 easily.

Winner: AVCHD

Owing to its high quality, AVCHD will occupy a large space. Usually, a 30-minute AVCHD video with 1920 X 1080 resolution will take up 300MB, whereas a 30-minute MP4 video with 1920 X 1080 resolution will only take up 100MB. So, if you are very concerned about the size of the file, MP4 will be a better choice. By the way, the above-recommended HD Video Converter Factory Pro can also be used as a video compressor to compress large video files.

Winner: MP4

AVCHD can be compatible with the Blu-ray Disc® format, xv.Color technology, and several recording media devices, such as Hard Disk or Memory Stick® media. But compared with MP4, the list of compatible devices is less. MP4, known as a Universal format that can be compatible with a large number of media network, players, and other devices. So, many people will choose to convert other video formats to MP4 for better compatibility such as F4V to MP4 or ASF to MP4.

Winner: MP4