Editing Common Intermediate Format (section)

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'''CIF''' (''Common Intermediate Format'' or ''Common  Interchange Format''), also known as '''FCIF''' (''Full Common Intermediate Format''), is a standardized format for the [[picture resolution]], [[frame rate]], [[color space]], and [[color subsampling]] of [[digital video]] sequences used in [[video teleconferencing]] systems. It was first defined in the [[H.261]] standard in 1988.

[[File:CIF and D1 definitions comparison.svg|500px|thumb|Comparison of CIF formats and [[D-1 (Sony)|D-1]]]]

As the word "common" in its name implies, CIF was designed as a common compromise format to be relatively easy to convert for use either with [[PAL]] or [[NTSC]] standard displays and cameras. CIF defines a video sequence with a resolution of 352 × 288, which has a simple relationship to the PAL picture size, but with a frame rate of 30000/1001 (roughly 29.97) frames per second like NTSC, with color encoded using a [[YCbCr]] representation with [[4:2:0]] color sampling. It was designed as a compromise between PAL and NTSC schemes, since it uses a picture size that corresponds most easily to PAL, but uses the frame rate of NTSC. The compromise was established as a way to reach international agreement so that video conferencing systems in different countries could communicate with each other without needing two separate modes for displaying the received video.