Editing Format war (section)

==1990s==
*Philips' [[Digital Compact Cassette]] (DCC) vs. Sony's [[MiniDisc]] (MD): both introduced in 1992. Since affordable [[CD-R]] was not available until about 1996, DCC and MD were an attempt to bring CD-quality recording to the home consumer. Restrictions by record companies fearful of perfect digital copies had limited an earlier digital system ([[Digital Audio Tape|DAT]]) to professional use. In response, Sony introduced the MiniDisc format which provided a copy control system that seemed to allay record companies' fears. Philips introduced their DCC system around the same time using the same copy control system. Philips' DCC was discontinued in 1996 but MD successfully captured the Asia Pacific market (e.g. Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, etc.) and initially did well in parts of Europe. The consumers in other parts of the world chose neither format, preferring to stick with analog [[Cassette tape|Compact Cassettes]] for home [[audio recording]], and eventually upgrading to now affordable [[CD-R|CD recordable]] discs and [[Audio file format|lossy-compressed]] [[MP3]] formats. Production of MiniDisc systems finally ceased in 2013, however, Sony continues to produce blank discs in Japan until February 2025.
*Rockwell [[X2 (Chipset)|X2]] vs [[K56flex]]&nbsp;– In the race to achieve faster [[telephone line]] [[modem]] speeds from the then-standard 9.6&nbsp;[[kbit/s]], many companies developed proprietary formats such as V.32 Turbo (19.2&nbsp;kbit/s) or TurboPEP (23.0&nbsp;kbit/s) or V.FAST (28.8&nbsp;kbit/s), hoping to gain an edge on the competition. The X2 and K56flex formats were a continuation of that ongoing battle for market dominance until the V.90 standard was developed in 1999. For some time, online providers needed to maintain two modem banks to provide dial-up access for both technologies. (See "[[modem]]" for a complete history.)
*Medium-capacity removable [[magnetic media]] drives, with several incompatible formats{{emdash}}a small market of [[Write once read many|write-once]] [[optical drive]]s (requiring the use of a protective, plastic jacket) and several more successful but also incompatible magnetic read-write cassette drives. The [[Iomega]] [[Iomega Zip drive|Zip]] format ultimately prevailed, with capacities of 100 and 250 megabytes, plus the rather less popular 750&nbsp;MB system; but these media and their drives were quickly supplanted by the much slower but far cheaper recordable compact disc [[CD-R]] (early models use a caddy to ensure proper alignment and help protect the disc). The CD-R has the advantage of existing wide industry standards support (the ''Red Book'' [[CD-DA]] standard for audio discs and the ''Yellow Book'' [[CD-ROM]] standard for data read-only CD), with the low-level recording format based upon the popular and low-cost read-only compact disc used for audio and data. Sony tried to establish "[[MD Data]]" Discs as an alternative, based on their MiniDisc R&D, with two computer peripherals: [http://minidisc.org/part_Sony_MDH-10.html MDH-10] and [http://minidisc.org/part_Sony_MDM-111.html MDM-111].
*External bus transfer protocols: [[IEEE 1394]] (FireWire) vs. [[USB]]. The proliferation of both standards has led to the inclusion of redundant hardware adapters in many computers, unnecessary versioning of external hardware, etc. FireWire has been marginalized to high-throughput media devices (such as [[High-definition video|high-definition]] [[videocamera]] equipment) and [[legacy hardware]].
*[[3D graphics]] [[API]]s: [[DirectX]] vs. [[OpenGL]] vs. [[Glide API]]. In the latter half of the 1990s, as 3D graphics became more common and popular, several video formats were promoted by different vendors. The proliferation of standards (each having many versions with frequent and significant changes) led to great complexity, redundancy, and frustrating hardware and software compatibility issues. 3D graphics applications (such as games) attempted to support a variety of APIs with varying results or simply supported only a single API. Moreover, the complexity of the emerging [[graphics pipeline]] (display adapter -> display adapter driver -> 3D graphics API -> application) led to a great number of incompatibilities, leading to unstable, underperforming, or simply inoperative software. Glide eventually dropped out of the war due to the only manufacturer supporting it — that is, [[3dfx]] — ceasing production of their [[video cards]].
*Video disc formats: MMCD versus SD. In the early 1990s two high-density optical storage standards were being developed: one was the MultiMedia Compact Disc (MMCD), backed by [[Philips]] and [[Sony]], and the other was the Super Density disc (SD), supported by [[Toshiba]], Matsushita and many others. MMCD was optionally double-layered while SD was optionally double-sided. Movie studio support was split. This format war was settled before either went to market by unifying the two formats. Following pressure by IBM, Philips and Sony abandoned their MMCD format and agreed upon the SD format with one modification based on MMCD technology, viz. EFMPlus. The unified disc format, which included both dual-layer and double-sided options, was called [[DVD]] and was introduced in Japan in 1996 and in the rest of the world in 1997.
*More video disc formats: [[Video CD]] versus the [[DVD]]. While the MMCD and SD war was going on, Philips developed their own video format called the [[Video CD]]. While the format quickly flopped in the U.S., in Europe and Japan the battle waged on fiercely, as the VideoCD's lower production cost (and thus sales price) versus the DVD's superior [[audiovisual]] quality and [[multimedia]] experience resulted in a split market audience, with one end wanting cheap media without minding the lower quality and multimedia richness, while the other willing to pay a premium for the better experience DVD offered. The battle was settled by the movie industry who rapidly refused to issue any more VCD discs once CD recorders became available. Unlike DVD, the VCD format had no [[copy protection]] mechanism whatsoever.
*Digital video formats: [[DVD]] versus [[DIVX]] (not to be confused with [[DivX]]). DIVX was a rental scheme where the end consumer would purchase a $2–3 disc similar to DVD but could only view the disc for 48 hours after the first use, similar to another rental scheme, [[Flexplay]]. Each subsequent view would require a phone line connection to purchase another $2–3 rental period. Several Hollywood studios ([[Disney]], [[20th Century-Fox]], and [[Paramount Pictures]]) initially released their movies exclusively in the DIVX format.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.digitalbits.com/articles/oldstudionews/paramount.html |title=Paramount jumps on DVD wagon; Fox, DreamWorks still out |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071007094046/http://www.digitalbits.com/articles/oldstudionews/paramount.html |archive-date=2007-10-07 }}</ref> However, video rental services found the multi-use DVD more attractive, and videophiles who collected films rejected the idea of a [[pay-per-view]] disc.
[[File:CompactFlash SecureDigital Adapter.jpg|thumb|Adapter for SD card to CompactFlash]]
*[[Memory card]]s, with several implementations: [[CompactFlash]] vs. [[Memory Stick]] vs. [[MultiMediaCard]] (MMC) vs. [[Secure Digital card|Secure Digital]] (SD) vs. [[SmartMedia]] vs. [[Miniature Card]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.earthboundlight.com/phototips/memory-card-battle-compatflash-sd-xqd-cfast.html|title=The Ongoing Memory Card Battle|date=January 19, 2014|author=Bob Johnson}}</ref> The format war became even more confusing with introduction of [[xD-Picture Card]], [[XQD card]] and [[CFast]] in the next decade. This ongoing contest is complicated by the existence of multiple variants of the various formats. Some of these, such as [[miniSD]] / [[microSD]], are compatible with their parent formats, while later Memory Sticks break compatibility with the original format. After SD was introduced in 1999, it eventually won the war in the early 2000s<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cnet.com/news/sd-card-too-bad-this-format-won-the-flash-card-wars|title=SD Card: Too bad this format won the flash-card wars|date=November 27, 2013|author=Shankland}}</ref> decade when companies that had exclusively supported other formats in the past, such as [[Fujifilm]], [[Olympus Corporation|Olympus]] and [[Sony]], began to use SD card in their products. The CF slots continued to be favoured for high-end cameras, but there are adapters for SD cards to be used in them.
*[[Hi-fi]] [[digital audio]] discs: [[DVD-Audio]] versus [[Super Audio CD|SACD]]. These discs offered all the advantages of a CD but with higher audio quality. The players and discs were reverse compatible (the new Hi-fi players could play most 12&nbsp;cm optical disc formats) but listening to the newer formats require a hardware upgrade. SACD was acclaimed by Sony marketeers as offering slightly better technical quality through its new [[Pulse-density modulation|PDM]] "bitstream" system and a greater number of SACD titles available. However, the two formats continue to coexist due to "hybrid" players that play both formats with equal ease. Neither DVD-Audio nor SACD won a significant percentage of the recorded audio market. A significant reason was the customer preference for easy-to-transport [[lossy compression|lossy compressed]] formats such as [[MP3]] and [[Advanced Audio Coding|AAC]]. In 2013, music companies led by [[Universal Music Group]] have launched [[Blu-ray Disc]]s with high-resolution [[PCM]] audio, branded as [[High Fidelity Pure Audio]], as an alternative format with the same objectives.
*[[Television]] auxiliary [[Input device|video inputs]]: [[Composite video]] vs. [[S-video]]. Composite video inputs had more widespread support since they used the ubiquitous [[RCA connector]] previously used only with audio devices, but S-video used a 4-pin [[DIN connector]] exclusively for the video bus.
* Wireless communication standards: Through the late 1990s, proponents of [[Bluetooth]] (such as [[Sony-Ericsson]]) and [[WiFi]] competed to gain support for positioning one of these standards as the de facto computer-to-computer wireless communication protocol. This competition ended around 2000 with WiFi the undisputed winner (largely due to a very slow rollout of Bluetooth networking products). However, in the early 2000s, Bluetooth was repurposed as a device-to-computer [[wireless communication]] standard and has succeeded well in this regard. Today's computers often feature separate equipment for both types of wireless communication, and both are ubiquitous in modern smartphones.
*[[Disk image]] formats for capturing digital versions of removable [[computer media]] (particularly CD-ROMs and DVD-ROMs): ISO vs. CUE/BIN vs. NRG vs. MDS vs. DAA, etc. Although the details of capturing images are complex (e.g., the oddities of various copy protection technologies applied to removable media), image formats have proliferated beyond reason - mainly because producers of image-creating software often like to create a new format with touted properties in order to bolster market share.
*[[Streaming media]] formats: AVI, [[QuickTime]] (MOV), [[Windows Media]] (WMV), [[RealMedia]] (RA), [[Liquid Audio]], [[MPEG]], [[DivX]], [[XviD]], and a large host of other streaming media formats cropped up, particularly during the internet boom of the late 1990s. The wildly large number of formats is very redundant and leads to a large number of software and hardware incompatibilities (e.g., a large number of competing [[Graphics pipeline|rendering pipelines]] are typically implemented in [[web browsers]] and [[portable video player]]s.)
*[[Single-serve coffee containers]]: Major players include [[Nestlé]]’s [[Nespresso]] which started in 1976, but became popular in the late 1990s and was later joined by [[Senseo]], [[Caffitaly]], [[Keurig]] and [[Tassimo]]. These systems were created to give out a single serving of fresh [[Coffee preparation|ground coffee]] through a capsule. By the end of the 2010s, as the [[patent]]s on the original systems expired, allowing rival companies to make cheaper capsules, Nespresso came out on top in most of the world, but Keurig dominated the North American market.