• The iPod with video, also known as the fifth generation iPod, was the first iPod portable media player that supported video file playback. If you own the iPod with video, you are not limited to audio files and can watch movies on your device as well. The iPod with video, however, only supports a limited set of video formats. If you have videos in other formats, you will need to convert them before watching them on your device. The iPod with video also plays the standard supported iPod audio formats.
  
  

H.264 (Video)

• H.264 is a common video format because it scales well from small, low-bandwidth devices like the iPod to large-format streaming video, such as the on-demand video that might be provided by your cable company. The maximum H.264 video resolution that the iPod with video supports is 320 by 240, the same as the resolution of the iPod's screen. H.264 videos can have compression bitrates up to 768 kilobits per second; higher compression bitrates result in higher video quality. H.264 video files for the iPod with video can have the extensions M4V, MP4 or MOV.
  
  

MPEG-4 (Video)

• The iPod with video supports MPEG-4 video files at much higher resolutions and compression bitrates than it does with H.264 files: 480 by 480 and 2.5 megabits per second, respectively. The iPod with video supports a direct connection to a television through an optional docking station, and because of the higher quality videos that this iPod model supports with the MPEG-4 format, this is the preferred format to choose if you will be connecting the iPod to a television. However, an MPEG-4 video in the maximum quality supported by the iPod with video will be much larger than an H.264 video.
  
  

AAC (Audio)

• AAC is the native audio format of the iTunes music store. If you purchase songs from iTunes to play on your iPod, the tracks will be in this format unless you purchase lossless or Digital Rights Management--free songs. According to tech website Shareware Music Machine.com, AAC provides higher sound quality than MP3 at equivalent bitrates.
  
  

MP3 (Audio)

• MP3 is one of the oldest formats for compressed audio files, and if you create sound files from your own CD collection, this file format is very likely to appear on your iPod with video.
  
  

Audible (Audio)

• Audible is a company that records and sells audio recordings of books. Audible book recordings are encrypted to prevent illegal copying, and the iPod with video supports the Audible encryption algorithm, allowing you to play purchased books on your device. Audible electronic books are divided into chapters for easy navigation.
  
  

WAV (Audio)

• The WAV file format is the native audio format used by the Windows operating system for as long as Windows-based computers have had the capability to play digital sound. When you extract audio data from a CD, the data is stored in the WAV format until you compress it to another format, such as MP3. A WAV file is equal in quality to the original CD, but is large compared to an MP3 file.
  
  

Apple Lossless (Audio)

• The most common audio file compression formats, such as MP3, are "lossy." When the original WAV file is compressed, the compression algorithm selectively removes sound information that humans are unlikely to perceive to make a file that sounds nearly the same as the original with a much smaller size. Apple Lossless files are larger than MP3 files but smaller than the original WAV files and contain all of the sound information from the original CD.
  
  

AIFF (Audio)

• Like the WAV format for Microsoft Windows, AIFF is the native Macintosh audio file format. AIFF files tend to be as large as WAV files due to being uncompressed. The AIFF format is not a common one for distributing audio files online.