The Blu-ray 3D specification uses the multiview video coding (MVC) codec.

The difference between MPEG-4 AVC and MVC is that the latter carries two streams of information: one for the base view and another for the dependant view. The base view is a standard 2D H.264 video stream, but the dependant view can reference information in the base view to save bandwidth, and it contains its own unique differences for the second, separate perspective.

MPEG4-MVC compresses both left and right eye views with a typical 50% overhead compared to equivalent 2D content, and can provide full 1080p resolution backward compatibility with current 2D Blu-ray Disc players

Blu-ray 3D discs are backward-compatible with standard Blu-ray players.


All BD-ROM application files are stored under a “BDMV” directory.

BDMV directory: contains the PLAYLIST, CLIPINF, STREAM, AUXDATA and BACKUP directories.

zzzzz.m2ts file: contains a BDAV MPEG-2 transport stream. The names of these files are in the form “zzzzz.m2ts”, where “zzzzz” is a 5-digit number corresponding to the Clip. The same 5-digit number “zzzzz” is used for an AV stream file and its associated Clip information file.
SSIF directory: If used, Stereoscopic Interleaved files shall be placed under this directory.

zzzzz.ssif file: is a Stereoscopic Interleaved file that is composed from two BDAV MPEG-2 transport streams. Both of the streams include an MPEG-4 MVC view video stream for left eye or right eye respectively. This file is used only when 3D video is played back. The 5-digit number “zzzzz” is the same as the number used for the AV stream file “zzzzz.m2ts” that includes the MPEG-4 MVC Base view video stream.