However, they are less playable in most Blu-ray Disc players, vehicle audio with DVD/Blu-ray support and video game consoles such as the Sony PlayStation and Xbox due to lack of backward compatibility for the older MPEG-1 format, inability to read MPEG-1 in .dat files alongside MPEG-1 in standard MPEG-1, AVI, and Matroska files, or inability to read CD-ROM XA discs.

A few years later, Philips decided to give CDs the ability to produce video, utilizing the same technology as its LaserDisc counterpart.

VCD enjoyed a brief period of success, with a few major feature films being released in the format (usually as a 2 disc set).

However the introduction of the CD-R disc and associated recorders stopped the release of feature films in their tracks because the VCD format had no means of preventing unauthorized (and perfect) copies from being made.

DVD players use lasers that are of shorter wavelength than those used on CDs, allowing the recorded pits to be smaller, so that more information can be stored.

Nevertheless, VCDs made considerable inroads into developing nations, where they are still in use today due to their cheaper manufacturing and retail costs.

[citation needed] Video CDs comply with the CD-i Bridge format, and are authored using tracks in CD-ROM XA mode.

The first track of a VCD is in CD-ROM XA Mode 2 Form 1, and stores metadata and menu information inside an ISO 9660 filesystem.

The 352×240 and 352×288 (or SIF) resolutions, when compared to the CCIR 601 specifications (defining the appropriate parameters for digital encoding of NTSC and PAL/SECAM TV signals), are reduced by half in all aspects: height, width, frame-rate, and chrominance.

Approximately 30 CD-i DV titles were released before the company switched to the current VCD format for publishing movies in 1994.

KVCD (K Video Compression Dynamics) is an XVCD variant that requires the use of a proprietary quantization matrix, created by Karl Wagner and made available for non-commercial use.

[7] Super Video CD is a format intended to be the successor of VCD, offering better quality of image and sound.

DVD-Video, with its longer run time and much higher quality, quickly overshadowed VCD in areas that could afford it.

In addition many early DVD players could not read recordable (CD-R) media,[10] and this limited the compatibility of home-made VCDs.

[15][16][17] VCDs are often produced and sold in Asian countries and regions, such as China (including Hong Kong), Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Brunei, Myanmar, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Bangladesh, India, Turkey, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

[citation needed] VCD's growth had slowed in areas that could afford DVD-Video, which offered most of the same advantages, as well as better picture quality[19] (higher resolution with fewer digital compression artifacts) due to its larger storage capacity.

However, VCD had simultaneously seen significant growth in emerging economies like India, Indonesia, South America, and Africa as a low-cost alternative to DVD.

[23] While both formats need fast-forwarding to find certain scenes, rewinding to the beginning upon reaching the end is not required in VCD.

[citation needed] Video CDs did not come with closed captioning (on-screen text to aid viewers with hearing problems).

VCDs are usually straightforward; playing them often goes directly to the video with extras (mostly trailers and commercials) taking place before or after it, like on a VHS cassette.

Though the VCD technology can support it, most films carried on VCDs do not contain chapters, requiring the viewer to fast-forward to resume the program after playback has been stopped.

Early devices supporting Video CD playback include the Philips CD-i systems and the Amiga CD-32 (albeit via an optional decoder card).

[8] Disc playback is also available both natively and as an option on some CD- and DVD-based video game consoles, including the original PlayStation (only on the SCPH-5903 model).

Early PC hardware supporting Video CD playback include proprietary VCD decoder card.

VLC is a free, open-source media player software which supports VCD on Windows, MacOS, Linux and BSD.