1.0 Understanding video formats & jargon
Codec is short for '
coder/
decoder'. It's a small program that compresses a video or audio source (a process known as '
encoding') and then decompresses it during playback. Your media player (Windows Media Player, Real Player, etc.) will automatically select the proper codec to use when playing back a compressed media file (.mp3, .mpg, etc.). If you don't have the proper codec installed, then the audio and/or video won't play back correctly.
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Despite the similar names, DivX and DIVX are totally different. Note the capitalization -- it's important.
DIVX refers to a modified type of DVD disc and player sold primarily by Circuit City as an alternative to renting DVDs. After you started playing a DIVX disc, it would 'expire' after a predetermined amount of time. After the disc expired, you would just throw it away. This format never really caught on and Circuit City pulled the plug on it in 2001.
Most references to 'divx' these days refers to '
DivX' -- a video compression technology related to MPEG-4. It allows high-quality video to be compressed to a relatively small file size. The DivX codec is
not currently installed by default with most operating systems or media players, so it must be downloaded and installed separately. DivX is commonly used to compress the video files distributed over file sharing networks. DivX files usually have an .avi or .divx file extension. Although heavily compressed, the files still tend to be quite large. A full length feature film takes between 600mb - 1,500mb, making them impractical to download over anything less than a broadband connection.
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