Digital video editing can either be linear or nonlinear. In linear editing, you have to sequentially traverse a file to edit it. For example, if you want to remove a frame that is in the middle of a video, you have to linearly traverse to that frame. However, in nonlinear editing, you can directly go to the frame and remove it from your video. Tape is always in the linear format and has to be edited linearly. Random access devices, such as DVDs and CDs, let you read and write data in a nonlinear manner. You can edit DVDs and CDs linearly and nonlinearly.

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