Codecs
What Are They And How To Use Them
By
Scott Sekinger
9/10/2005
What is a Codec
A Codec (coder-decoder) is software components used to translate video or audio between its uncompressed form and the compressed form in which it is stored.
How To Use Codec
You must first determine what type of codec you need before you can use a codec. It is hard to tell what type compression (codec) a file use by looking at the file extension, because a video file for example can be compressed in several different formats. An AVI file is an example of a video file that can be compressed in either DivX or the Xvid format or some other format. Below is a table based on the one from http://obooklage.free.fr/win_media/video_codecs.php of most of the audio and video codecs out there
| Codecs Video / Audio for the formats AVI ASF WMV and QuickTime |
| Video
Codecs |
Compagny |
FOURCC |
AVI |
ASF WMV |
QTime |
Quality |
State |
Encoding
Speed |
Site |
Informations |
| DivX;)
3.11 -SBC |
div3 |
|
|
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Free |
|
||||
| XviD
- 2 passes |
xvid
or div3 |
|
|
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
GNU |
|
Near
DVD, come from OpenDivx, amazing ! |
|||
| Microsoft
MPEG4 V3 |
mp43 |
|
|
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Locked |
|
only
Beta Version can encode and decode AVI |
|||
| Microsoft
MPEG4 V2 |
mp42 |
|
|
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Free |
|
Fast Archiving |
|||
| DivX
5.x |
divx |
|
|
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
30$ |
|
Some
problems for read 3.11 avi |
|||
| DivX;)
3.11 Low |
DivX |
div3 |
|
|
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Down |
|
MultiMedia |
||
| DivX;)
3.11 Fast |
DivX |
div4 |
|
|
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Down |
|
MultiMedia |
||
| Microsoft
ISOMPEG4 |
none |
|
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Locked |
|
MultiMedia
|
||||
| Microsoft
MPEG4 V1 |
mpg4 |
|
|
![]() ![]() ![]() |
Free |
|
MultiMedia |
|||
| Microsoft
V7 |
none
|
|
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Locked |
|
Near
DVD |
||||
| Microsoft
V8 |
none
|
|
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Locked |
|
Near
DVD |
||||
| MEDIA 9 |
none
|
|
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Free |
|
Near
DVD , Very good quality |
||||
| DivX
Projet Mayo |
DivX:) |
divx |
|
|
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Down |
|
Continued
by XviD
Project |
||
| UB
Video Stream Force |
|
|
![]() ![]() ![]() |
Licencing |
|
|||||
| PIC
Video MJPEG |
mjpg |
|
|
![]() ![]() ![]() |
Licencing |
|
||||
| AVID
AVI codec |
avrn |
|
|
|
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
? |
![]() |
Export
AVID projects |
||
| HuffYUV |
hfyu |
|
|
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Free |
|
Capture
/ Video storage |
|||
| Intel
i263 |
Intel |
i263 |
|
|
![]() |
Free |
|
old |
||
| IntelR3.1 |
Intel |
![]() ![]() |
Free
|
|
old |
|||||
| IntelR3.2 |
Intel |
iv32
|
![]() ![]() |
Free
|
|
old |
||||
| Intel
Indeo 5.10 |
iv50 |
|
|
|
![]() ![]() ![]() |
? |
|
The
only cross container codec |
||
| Intel
Indeo 4.3 |
iv41 |
|
|
|
![]() ![]() ![]() |
? |
|
|||
| msh261
- m261 |
![]() |
Free |
|
old |
||||||
Pinnacle DC1000 |
PIN1 |
Pinnacle DC1000
32-bit AVI Codec v.2.0 |
||||||||
| msh263
- I420 |
![]() |
Free |
|
old |
||||||
| msh263
- m263 |
![]() |
Free |
|
old |
||||||
| msyuv
- UYVY |
![]() |
Free |
|
old |
||||||
| msyuv
- YUY2 |
![]() |
Free |
|
old |
||||||
| msyuv
- YVYU |
![]() |
Free |
|
old |
||||||
| ntcodec |
![]() |
Free |
|
old |
||||||
| pclepixl |
![]() |
Free |
|
old |
||||||
| RLE |
![]() |
Free |
|
|||||||
| VDONet |
![]() |
Free |
|
|||||||
| VFCodec |
![]() |
Free |
|
|||||||
| Microsoft
Video 1 |
msvc |
|
|
![]() ![]() |
Free |
|
old ( but inclued ) |
|||
| WinBond
JPEG |
![]() |
Free |
|
|||||||
| Sorenson |
|
![]() ![]() ![]() |
Licencing |
|
Quicktime
|
|||||
| Cinepak |
Radius |
cvid |
|
|
|
![]() ![]() ![]() |
Free
|
|
||
| DivX
Kristal |
div3 |
Free |
Down |
Uninstall Decoder
! |
||||||
| Angel
Potion |
|
|
Free |
Down |
Dangerous, Uninstall-it
! |
|
Audio Codec |
Compagny |
ID |
AVI |
ASF WMV |
QTime |
Quality |
State |
Encoding Speed |
Site |
Informations |
|
MP3 |
RaCodec |
Profesionnal |
|
|
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Unlocked |
|
famous MP3
! Version 12 |
||
|
Ogg Vorbis |
|
|
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Free |
|
New format : Best than MP3 ! |
||||
|
WMA V1 |
|
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Locked |
|
Only for
WMA/V |
|||||
|
WMA V2 |
|
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Locked |
|
Only for
WMA/V |
|||||
|
Lernout&Hauspie |
|
|
![]() |
Free |
old |
|||||
|
ACELP.Net CELP |
|
|
![]() |
Free |
|
old |
||||
|
ACELP.Ne SBCt |
|
|
![]() |
Free |
|
old |
||||
|
IMA ADPCM |
|
|
![]() |
Free |
|
old |
||||
|
M$ ADPCM |
|
|
![]() |
Free |
|
old |
||||
|
M$ GSM 6.10 |
|
|
![]() |
Free |
|
For GSM |
||||
|
M$ G7.11 A-Law |
|
|
![]() |
Free |
|
old |
||||
|
M$ G7.11 u-Law |
|
|
![]() |
Free |
|
old |
||||
|
True Speech |
|
|
![]() |
Free |
|
old |
||||
|
M$ G.723.1 |
|
|
![]() |
Free |
|
old |
||||
|
M$ PCM |
|
|
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Free |
|
PCM convertor |
||||
|
Voxware MetaSound |
|
|
![]() |
Free |
|
old |
||||
|
Voxware MetaVoice |
|
|
![]() |
Free |
|
old |
||||
|
Voxware FileMode |
|
|
![]() |
Free |
|
old |
||||
|
VoxwareBitstream |
|
|
![]() |
Free |
|
old |
||||
|
MP3 |
Advanced |
|
|
![]() ![]() ![]() |
locked |
|
Locked, Uninstall-it
! |
|||
|
DivX;) Audio |
DivX;) |
DivX;) Audio |
|
|
down |
DivX;.3x |
Dangerous, Uninstall-it ! |
I suggest downloading Gspot, a program which will tell you what type of codec a file is compressed in. Once you determine what codec you then download / install them and enjoy the file. The table above has links to the websites that have that you might need. If it is not on the table then go to your favorite search engine's website and do a search on it.
Check out Andy Walker's article How Codecs Work for more information on how Codecs work.