Codec for playing .AVI video files?

The_LED_Museum

*Retired*
Joined
Aug 12, 2000
Messages
19,414
Location
Federal Way WA. USA
What codec do I need for Windows Media Player for it to play .AVI files? I get audio, but no video. And if I watch the bottom closely, I see "error downloading codec" in the Media Player's window any time I try to play an .AVI.

And if I try to use Realplayer, it says "Unable to render video; DIV3 decompressor not found".
It too plays only the audio track.

I'm using Windows XP home edition; it came with my Dell computer in mid-2002.
 
Do you have Media Player 9 yet? If not, get it for free at windowsupdate.microsoft.com. It plays most current stuff, even if it does look a little funky, and is more bloated than older WMPs. Shouldn`t have any problems running on your system though!

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
I have version 8, so I'm currently downloading the "bloatware" that is version 9.
I'm on a stupid slow dial-up, so it'll be awhile yet before I can try it out. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif
Thank you for the advice!!! I knew *someone* here at CPF would have the answer. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
MP9, yes, it's bloated, but at least they finally got the codecs sorted, and made the media library work. And normalisation works, which is the only reason that I've been using MP rather than Winamp lately...fed up of continually having to fiddle with the volume control every five minutes when I've just got music in the background!

Also, there's an option somewhere in MP that specifies whether you're allowing it to download things like codecs if I remember rightly, make sure that's not turned off (Think that happened to me once a while back).
 
I'm not sure if Windows Media player supports Divx files natively. You may have to download the DivX codec separately. If you do, this website has a copy you can download if you find your upgrade doesn't work (go down to the free standard codec)

http://www.divx.com/divx/
 
Re: (FOUND) Codec for playing .AVI video files

[ QUOTE ]
GeoffChan said:
Craig,

what happens when you play the same avi in irfanview?

Geoff

[/ QUOTE ]
I didn't know IrFanView played .AVIs. But it does! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif
So now I can play these things with WMP or IrFanView now!!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
siriuslite said:
I'm not sure if Windows Media player supports Divx files natively. You may have to download the DivX codec separately.

[/ QUOTE ]
I downloaded the whole DivX player, and it plays these .AVI files just fine by itself. (They're Digimon shows in .AVI format on CD-ROMs, just so you know).

I wanted just the codec, but I had to take the whole player. I think it goes bad after X number of plays, but I'm not 100% certain about that.

I probably won't use the DivX player very much anymore, but it's good to know it's there if I need it. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Craig, I think you can uninstall the player and the codecs stay, least that what I think I remember doing... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thinking.gif
 
Craig , point your browse at www.3ivx.com . This codec will playback 99% of the most popular codecs used. The only downer is that its a bit CPU greedy, but other than that, its supremely useful. And upgrading windows mediaplayer rarely solves the problem, the newer versions just add more pointless buttons for you to press, they rarely include extra codecs.
 
Use a program called g-spot to determine which codec is used for any AVI you wish to view. Note the codec needed may be different for different AVI files. Once you know the 4CC of the codec you need { in your case the player has told you it is 'DIV3', otherwise known as DivX ;-) MPEG-4 Low-Motion }, you can search for it on the net, then download it.
 
Back
Top