Transloadit

What is Uncompressed Video?

Uncompressed video stores raw pixel samples without applying a video compression codec. It retains the available sample data but requires very high storage capacity, interface throughput, and transfer bandwidth.

How Uncompressed Video works

Uncompressed frames represent pixel samples directly in a declared raster, pixel format, bit depth, and sampling layout. They may be packed or planar and can use RGB or luma/chroma components, so “uncompressed” does not identify one byte arrangement. The format removes codec decoding from the path but shifts the burden to storage, memory movement, and interfaces. It is used around capture, monitoring, compositing, and test stages before a distribution encode.

Key facts

  1. The base data rate follows frame dimensions, frame frequency, bit depth, and chroma sampling; transport blanking, packetization, audio, or interface framing can add further throughput.
  2. Uncompressed video is not synonymous with camera-raw data: raw sensor mosaics may still require demosaicing and color processing, while uncompressed video already contains formed pixel components.
  3. Decompressing a lossy source produces uncompressed frames for processing but cannot restore discarded information; those frames still carry artifacts and limitations from the earlier encode.

When Uncompressed Video matters

Use uncompressed video for capture, testing, or intermediate processing when preserving samples justifies the resource cost. Confirm that storage and interfaces sustain the data rate or frames may be dropped.

Turn media knowledge into a working pipeline

Connect uploads, processing, AI, storage, and delivery through one declarative API — with the encoding stack, scaling, and format churn handled for you.

Try Transloadit for free