<p>It can depend on the compression used, but generally yes, there will be a loss of quality, particularly if there is any alteration to the video.  For a fairly low compression format like DV it probably isn't going to be much, but the best bet, if the format supports it, is to append the stream data and alter the file such that it has the necessary format or simply make a virtual clip if your editing environment supports it.</p>

<p>Personally, I've always taken the latter option when working with DV, so I don't recall if it is a format that easily supports combining files or not, though I would expect it is since it compresses every frame independently as I recall. (May be wrong on that though, haven't worked with DV in a while.)</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-05-30T12:46:20.970Z
2013-05-30T12:46:20.970Z
AJ Henderson
<p>Just say I have a bunch of separate clips (DV stream format .dv), and I join them using Quicktime 7. If I then export them out as a new .dv file, am I losing any quality?</p>

<p>Is there a loss in quality if you re-encode a video under the same exact codec with the same exact settings? If so, how can I join my clips and retain the original quality?</p>

<video><quicktime><codec>
Retaining quality while re-encoding with same codec
user1481563
# Retaining quality while re-encoding with same codec

(Asked by: username_0 on 2013-05-30)

Just say I have a bunch of separate clips (DV stream format .dv), and I join them using Quicktime 7. If I then export them out as a new .dv file, am I losing any quality?

Is there a loss in quality if you re-encode a video under the same exact codec with the same exact settings? If so, how can I join my clips and retain the original quality?

**Tags:** video, quicktime, codec


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2013-05-30. Score: 1

It can depend on the compression used, but generally yes, there will be a loss of quality, particularly if there is any alteration to the video. For a fairly low compression format like DV it probably isn't going to be much, but the best bet, if the format supports it, is to append the stream data and alter the file such that it has the necessary format or simply make a virtual clip if your editing environment supports it.

Personally, I've always taken the latter option when working with DV, so I don't recall if it is a format that easily supports combining files or not, though I would expect it is since it compresses every frame independently as I recall. (May be wrong on that though, haven't worked with DV in a while.)


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