Editing Video CD (section)

==Compared with DVD==
[[File:Three-disc VCD Title.jpg|thumb|260px|left|Films released on VCD can come on as many as 3 discs, depending on the length of the film; cases of VCDs are shaped like those of audio CDs]]
When playing a [[DVD]], the viewer is taken to a main menu which gives them options (watch the feature film, view "deleted scenes", play some special applications, etc.). VCDs are usually straightforward; playing them often goes directly to the video with extras (mostly trailers and commercials) taking place before or after it, like on a VHS cassette.

Subtitles are found on many Asian VCDs but cannot be removed, unlike on DVDs. The subtitles are embedded on the video during the encoding process ("[[hardsub]]bed"). It is not uncommon to find a VCD with subtitles for two languages.

Though the VCD technology can support it, most films carried on VCDs do not contain chapters, requiring the viewer to fast-forward to resume the program after playback has been stopped. This is mostly because VCD technology is able to start playback at a chapter point but there is nothing to signal to the player that the chapter has changed during a program. This can be confusing for the user as the player will indicate that it is still playing chapter 1 when it has played through to chapter 2 or later. Pressing the Next button would cause playback from the beginning of chapter 2. However, preview material is sometimes stored in a separate chapter, followed by a single chapter for the film.

VCDs are often bilingual. Because they feature stereo audio, disc players have an option to play only the left or right audio channel. On some films, they feature English on the left audio channel and Cantonese on the right; more commonly Hong Kong VCDs will feature Mandarin on one channel and Cantonese on the other. This is similar to selecting a language track on a DVD, except it is limited to 2 languages, due to there being only two audio channels (left and right). The audio track effectively becomes monaural.

VCD's most noticeable disadvantage compared to DVD is image quality, due both to the more aggressive compression necessary to fit video into such a small capacity as well as to the compression method used. Additionally, VCD movie surround sound capability is limited to Dolby Surround matrixed within the stereo tracks, while DVDs are capable of six channels of discrete surround sound via [[Dolby Digital]] AC-3.