A video encoder is a hardware device or software application that takes raw video and audio signals from a camera and converts them into a compressed digital format for transmission over a network. Encoders apply codecs like H.264 or H.265 to reduce file size while preserving acceptable quality, and they output the stream to a media server or CDN via protocols such as RTMP or SRT. In field streaming deployments, encoders are often embedded directly into wearable camera systems.