What is transcoding?

[dbaker6165]

Can anybody tell me what transcoding means?

[yg1968]

Transcoding basically means the same thing as encoding or converting. For example, transcoding from divx to mpeg-2. Technically, I think that transcoding means going form one compression format (divx) to another (i.e. mpeg). I believe that encoding is going from the video source to a compression format (i.e. mpeg-2). However, people generally tend to use these terms as synonyms. Another synonym is to use the word "convert".