Transmission of video in its raw format is far too bandwidth intensive. Software components that compress the raw video data into smaller bitstreams whose bandwidth requirements are more manageable are called video encoders. Software components that uncompress that compressed data stream back into the raw video suitable for display are called video decoders. Typically, an implementation will consist of both an encoder and a decoder. For simplicity, such an implementation is then usually called a "video codec."

Video codecs that adhere to the ITU-T International Standards insure complete interoperability with video codecs from other manufacturers. Agora Labs has five video codecs to choose from. Our H.263+ compliant codec is the VX2000S, our H.263 compliant codec is the VX1000S, our H.261 compliant codec is the VX3000S. Each of these video codecs were originally developed by Lucent elemedia™. The Agora Labs VX4000S video codec supports the newer H.264 International Standard and was developed entirely at Agora Labs. Unique to Agora Labs is our Universal Video Codec. This codec is a single video codec that supports all of the relevant international standards (H.261, H.263, H.263+, H.263++, and H.264) and was developed entirely at Agora Labs.