Page 1 of avi files

does anybody know how to play avi file on windows media or can you play them on any other format

AVI is Microsoft`s file format for movie files, so you would think the Windows Media player should be able to play .avi file. However AVI files are actually just a wrapper for a number of different formats. The movie data can be encoded/decoded using different algorithms or schemas. These different encoding methods are called codecs. By default Windows Media Player comes with a number of standard codecs. If you try to play a file which was encoded using a codec which is not currently supported windows media player, it will try to download that codec from the Microsoft website. In the majority of cases this will work no problem. However you will find that a lot of stuff in avi format is encoded using the DivX:) codec, which MS don`t suport because it is based on hacked MS code. DivX:) uses an extremely efficient compression technique and is more and more the number one choice of codec when compressing movie data. If your file is in Divx:) format you should obtain the Divx:) codec, you can then use Windows Media Player or a number of other programs to play the avi file. You can get the codec from http://www.divx.com or http://download.cnet.com/downloads/0-10079-100-8947342.html?tag=st.dl.10001-103-1.lst-7-1.8947342. This also includes a standalone divx player.

This item was edited on Thursday, 28th March 2002, 23:32