"Component" vs "Composite"

Question

I have read several different articles regarding connecting the Apple TV to a TV that the Apple TV has "Component" connections. I have also seen the term "composite" connections used instead of "component". When I look at the rear of an Apple TV I see the triditional red, white and yellow connections which I have always understood to mean composite.
My TV has the red, white and yellow connectors on it and if "component" and "composite" are in fact one and the same, can I conclude that it should work with my TV. Or are they in fact different, but just look the same? I understand that it will be analog video and not the HD as in HDMI.
Thanks,
Bob

Answer 1

Adding a bit to what others have said, you may find it interesting that the color coding of these cables follows a logic that is a bit twisted by the history of their adoption:
First came color coding for stereo audio cables. Since the right channel & the color red start with the same letter, by convention "red means right." The left channel was basically whatever other color was used, typically black, grey, or white. (Some said "left is what's left" as a way to remember this.)
When composite video connections became common on consumer gear, another color was needed. Since one component of video signals is luminance (or "luma") info, & engineers use "Y" to designate it, the most obvious choice was yellow & that convention was adopted, even though composite contains both luma & color info.
Meanwhile, analog component video was already well established in professional video in forms that used individual cables for red, green, & blue color components (among other signals). Thus, it was natural to use red, blue, & green color coding for those cables. This convention found its way into some "prosumer" gear with RGB component support.
However, the current form of consumer component video is not RGB but YPbPr: "Y" for luminance, "Pb" for difference between blue and luma (also sometimes marked "B-Y"), & "Pr" for difference between red and luma (also sometimes marked "R-Y"). Since yellow was already established as the color code for composite video (even though it contains both luma & color signals!), & there was some precedence for red, green, & blue component color coding, that's what has become the standard.
This can be confusing if the device manufacturer labels the connectors properly, particularly with "Y" for the luma cable, by convention color coded green. So, some manufactures label the connectors incorrectly but less confusingly with "R," "G," & "B" ... or (like Apple) don't label them at all.