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You may have heard of "codecs" and "codec packs" before, but what are they and what do they do? This article explains it all in simple terms.
A codec is a piece of software that tells Windows how to encode (create) or decode (play back) digital media, like sound or video. This is where the name "codec" comes from, an amalgamation of COder and DECoder. There are many codecs in use today, the most common ones being MPEG-2 (used by DVD's) and MP3 (as used by MP3 files and portable media players such as the iPod). However, a lot of the media we use on computers is encoded with many different types of codecs, depending on the target medium. For example, video that is streamed over the internet is generally compressed using the Windows Media Video codecs, however, other media (particularly high-definintion content) is encoded using MPEG-4 codecs such as DivX & Xvid. There are quite a large number of other codecs in use as well, however most tend to be for specific applications. Problems occur when you attempt to play digital media (such as a video file) for which you do not have the appropriate codec installed. For example, if you do not have an MPEG-2 codec installed, you will not be able to play DVD's on your computer. To counter this need for codecs, groups of people on the internet have releasd "codec packs", which bundle multiple codecs into one simple installer. It sounds like a good idea in principle, but there are a number of problems with codec packs. First and foremost, certain codec packs bundle together a number of MPEG-2 decoders that you would ordinarily have to pay for. This is software piracy plain and simple. Secondly, installing multiple copies of the same decoder is pointless, since Windows will only one codec at a time when playing digital media files. Lastly, having multiple codecs installed all over the place can break existing functionality in Windows. After installing a codec pack, you may notice that playback of certain files does not work, or that Windows Media Player crashes. To avoid these problems, you can use a piece of software called VLC Media Player. VLC has multiple codec support built-in. This has two benefits - 1) it does not interfere with Windows, and 2) it can playback almost every video or audio format. It's also very efficient (the installer is only 9Mb) and best of all, it's free. References: |
