What is the DV file format?
A .dv file contains raw Digital Video encoded in the DV/DIF (Digital Interface Format) standard, developed by a consortium including Sony, Panasonic, and JVC, and standardized as IEC 61834 in 1994. Consumer DV camcorders reached the market in 1995 and dominated prosumer and broadcast acquisition through the early 2000s.
The file is an unframed sequence of 80-byte DIF blocks. Each video frame comprises 150 DIF blocks (NTSC) or 300 (PAL), organized into five block types: sequence headers, subcode data, video auxiliary (VAUX), audio, and compressed video. Video uses intraframe DCT compression at 25 Mbit/s - approximately 3.6 MB per second, or about 1 GB per five minutes of footage.
Standard SD DV captures 720×480 pixels (NTSC) or 720×576 (PAL) with audio at 48 kHz / 16-bit PCM. The .dv extension specifically denotes the raw bitstream transferred over FireWire (IEEE 1394 / i.LINK) from tape. The same video is also commonly wrapped in AVI or MOV containers - those files use different extensions even though the DV video payload is identical.
DV was superseded by HDV (MPEG-2, 2003) and AVCHD (H.264, 2006). Most modern players and editors - including VLC, FFmpeg, DaVinci Resolve, and Final Cut Pro - decode .dv without additional codecs. macOS handles .dv natively via QuickTime; Windows has no built-in DV codec since Vista.
Security & safety
RISK: LOWDV is a well-established video format with no known script or macro capability. Standard media file security applies: use updated media players to avoid codec vulnerability exploits. No special DV-specific risks.
Format details
in a nutshell- DataVault / various proprietary formats - A few unrelated proprietary applications use .dv as a generic container extension; rare and context-specific.
Programs that open DV files
Windows7 apps
VLC media player
Open-source File → Open File and select the .dv file. VLC decodes raw DV and DV-in-AVI natively. 
DaVinci Resolve
Free File → Import Media and select the .dv file. Resolve handles DV natively for editing.
HandBrake (convert to MP4)
Open-source Open Source → select .dv file → choose MP4 preset → Start Encode. 
macOS6 apps
MPlayer (macOS)
Open-source Install via Homebrew (brew install mplayer), then run 'mplayer file.dv'. 
Linux4 apps
dvgrab (capture + convert)
Open-source Use dvgrab to capture DV from FireWire tape to .dv file; also converts DV to AVI via -format raw/dv2. 
Android1 app
Technical details
deep spec| Standard | IEC 61834-2 (SD DV - 525/60 NTSC and 625/50 PAL); IEC 61834-4 (DVCPRO HD extension) |
| Block structure | Sequence of 80-byte DIF blocks; 150 blocks per NTSC frame, 300 per PAL frame |
| Video compression | Intraframe DCT (lossy, one frame at a time) at 25 Mbit/s; each frame is independently decodable |
| Frame dimensions | 720×480 px (NTSC DV) or 720×576 px (PAL DV); DVCPRO HD up to 1920×1080 or 1280×720 |
| Chroma subsampling | 4:1:1 (NTSC DV); 4:2:0 (PAL DV); 4:2:2 (DVCPRO50) |
| Audio encoding | Uncompressed 16-bit PCM at 48 kHz (standard) or 12-bit at 32 kHz (4-channel IEC 61834-2 mode) |
| Bit depth (video) | 8 bits per YCbCr component (24-bit total) |
| Data rate | ~25 Mbit/s (SD DV) ≈ 3.6 MB/s ≈ 1 GB per 5 minutes; DVCPRO HD: 100 Mbit/s |
| Container options | Raw unframed DIF stream (.dv); also wrapped in AVI Type-1, AVI Type-2, or QuickTime MOV |
| Capture interface | Originally transferred over FireWire (IEEE 1394 / i.LINK) from DV tape |
| DIF block types | 5 types per frame: sequence header (1), subcode (2), VAUX (3), audio (9), and video (135 DCT blocks) |
| Higher-bitrate variants | DVCPRO (25 Mbit/s, 4:1:1), DVCPRO50 (50 Mbit/s, 4:2:2), DVCPRO HD (100 Mbit/s) |
| OS codec support | macOS: native QuickTime; Linux: FFmpeg/libdv; Windows: no built-in codec since Vista |
| Released | 1994 (Blue Book / IEC 61834-1 specification; consumer DV camcorders launched 1995) |
| Latest version | IEC 61834-2 (DV-SD, 525-60/625-50); IEC 61834-4 (DVCPRO HD extension) |
| Open standard | Yes · royalty-free |
| Specification | www.loc.gov |
DV conversions
Community Q&A
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