White Book

What Does White Book Mean?

The white book in IT refers to a handbook released in 1993 covering the video formats of video CDs (VCDs). Video CDs came out in between laser disks and modern DVDs. The white book defines specific formats for video components.

Techopedia Explains White Book

White-book-defined video protocols are compliant with the international standards organization, with audio and video formats rated by MPEG. The white book specifies frame rates and bit rates and other metrics for video CDs. It also defines a CD-I bridge format for a category of “bridge discs” that had to meet certain specifications including those in the green book or “CD-I full functional specification,” which Philips and Sony developed in 1986.

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Margaret Rouse

Technology Expert

Margaret is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.

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