// FOURCC tags from page http://www.fourcc.org/codecs.

php
3IV1 3ivx 3IVX MPEG4-based codec. Used by 3ivx Delta 1.0-3.5. FOURCC "3IV0" was
also used for a while but never publicly released.
3IV2 3ivx 3IVX MPEG4-based codec. To be used for "3ivx Delta 4.0."
8BPS Planar RGB Codec Apple? RLE codec storing RGB image in planar format
under Quicktime.
AASC Autodesk Animator codec Autodesk This codec is part of Autodesk's
discontinued Animator Studio for Windows.
ABYR ? Kensington? Apparently a low resolution, low frame rate (6fps)
codec similar to AJPG which is used in implementing movie capture in some digital
cameras.
ADV1 WaveCodec Loronix Apparently used in various CCTV products.
ADVJ Avid M-JPEG Avid Technology Also known as AVRn
AEMI Array VideoONE MPEG1-I Capture Array Microsystems Array's codec used
for I frame only MPEG1 AVI files
AFLI Autodesk Animator codec Autodesk AVI equivalent of Autodesk's native
FLI file format (presumably).
AFLC Autodesk Animator codec Autodesk AVI equivalent of the FLC native
file format.
AJPG ? ? 22fps JPEG-based codec used for movie capture by some digital
cameras.
AMPG Array VideoONE MPEG Array Microsystems Codec for Array VideoONE
hardware-based MPEG compression system.
ANIM RDX Intel ?
AP41 AngelPotion Definitive AngelPotion Another hacked version of
Microsoft's MP43 codec. One source recommends against installing this codec "due to
its occasional tendency to modify client structures". Apparently this means that it
can destroy or otherwise mess up the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\avifile section of your
registry leaving some tools incapable of playing video any more.
ASLC Alparysoft Lossless Codec Alparysoft Codec offering approximately 5x
compression in mathematically lossless mode or 5-15x compression in "visually
lossless" operation.
ASV1 Asus Video Asus Codec supplied with the Asus TNT Video Capture adapter.
Supposedly a very simple, DCT-based codec. Complete technical details can be found
here.
ASV2 Asus Video (2) Asus New codec from Asus. Supposedly a very simple DCT
codec. Complete technical details can be found here.
ASVX Asus Video 2.0 Asus Unusual codec which stores audio in the .avi file but
puts the video in a companion .asv file. Click here for information on how to play
back these files on Windows 2000 PCs.
AUR2 Aura 2 Codec - YUV 422 Auravision ?
AURA Aura 1 Codec - YUV 411 Auravision ?
avc1 H.264 Apple Apple's version of the MPEG4 part 10/H.264 standard
apparently.
AVRn Avid M-JPEG Avid Technology Also known as ADVJ in Quicktime files.
BA81 Raw 8bit RGB Bayer ? This format stores raw 8bit Bayer samples. The
Bayer color filter array is described here. I wonder if this is a duplicate of
BYR1?
BINK Bink Video RAD Game Tools Pretty popular codec in Windows games. I'm not
sure if this is available as a standard Windows codec but the web site makes it
sound interesting enough to list here even if it does require non-standard tools to
use.
BLZ0 ? Blizzard MPEG-4 codec used in WarCraft 3 movies.
BT20 Prosumer Video Conexant Codec optimised for realtime compression of YUV
images. Download the ZIP and add VIDC.BT20=btvvc32.drv and VIDC.Y41P=btvvc32.drv to
the [drivers32] section of your SYSTEM.INI to enable the codec
BTCV Composite Video Codec Conexant This, now obsolete, format supported a
special data format used by the Brooktree Bt2115 chipset which could perform
"software encoded video output" - a kind of software TV-out capability.
BW10 Broadway MPEG Capture/Compression Data Translation Codec for Broadway
hardware-based MPEG compression system.
BYR1 Raw 8bit RGB Bayer ? This format stores raw 8bit Bayer samples. The
Bayer color filter array is described here.
BYR2 Raw 16bit RGB Bayer ? This format stores packed 16bit Bayer samples
with 12bit precision. The Bayer color filter array is described here.
CC12 YUV12 Codec Intel ?
CDVC Canopus DV Codec Canopus Allegedly used with digital video cameras. The
Canopus download page has a free software-only version of this codec which will
install on machines which are not equipped with their capture hardware. Apparently
if you edit the AVI and change the FOURCC to dvsd, it will play with these codecs
too.
CFCC DPS Perception Digital Processing Systems Native format used when
capturing AVIs using a DPS Perception adapter.
CGDI Camcorder Video Microsoft AVI format used by Office 97 camcorder
application.
CHAM Caviara Champagne Winnov ?
CMYK Uncompressed CMYK Colorgraph Uncompressed 32bpp CMYK as used in
printing processes.
CJPG WebCam JPEG Creative Labs Used by Creative Video Blaster Webcam Go
control. See here for info on how to download and install this codec.
CPLA YUV 4:2:0 Weitek This sounds like an uncompressed format to me. Anyone
know?
CRAM Microsoft Video 1 Microsoft Allegedly identical to MSVC.
CSCD CamStudio Codec RenderSoft
CTRX Citrix Scalable Video Codec Citrix? ?
CVID Cinepak Providenza & Boekelheide Originally owned by Supermac then
Radius, now P & B. Complete technical details can be found here.
CWLT Color WLT DIB Microsoft Apparently WLT is "with lookup table".
Presumably, therefore, this is similar to a standard DIB using FOURCC 0?
CXY1 Conexant YUV 4:1:1 Conexant Uncompressed, planar 4:1:1 YUV format.
CXY2 Conexant YUV 4:2:2 Conexant Uncompressed, planar 4:2:2 YUV format.
CYUV Creative YUV Creative Labs Proprietary YUV compression algorithm
CYUY ? ATI Technologies Proprietary YUV compression algorithm
D261 H.261 DEC Presumably now owned by Intel.
D263 H.263 DEC Presumably now owned by Intel.
davc MPEG-4/H.264 Dicas H.264/MPEG-4 AVC base profile codec. Dicas tell
me that this codec will be available for free download from their site some time in
June 2004. I am waiting to hear the exact URL for the download.
DCL1 Data Connection Conferencing Codec Data Connection Ltd. Format used in
Data Connection Ltd's conferencing services.
DCL2 Data Connection Multimedia Conferencing Codec Data Connection Ltd. Format
used in Data Connection Ltd's conferencing services.
DCL3 Data Connection Enhanced Conferencing Codec Data Connection Ltd. Format
used in Data Connection Ltd's conferencing services.
DCL4 Data Connection Extended Conferencing Codec Data Connection Ltd. Format
used in Data Connection Ltd's conferencing services.
DCL5 Data Connection Media Conferencing Codec Data Connection Ltd. Format used
in Data Connection Ltd's conferencing services.
DIV3 DivX MPEG-4 DivX Low motion codec (optimised for low motion source
material?). Several sources tell me that this is an old and illegal codec that
should not be used to encode new material.
DIV4 DivX MPEG-4 DivX Fast motion codec.Several sources tell me that this
is an old and illegal codec that should not be used to encode new material.
DIV5 ? ? Apparently almost as old as DIV3 and DIV4. Changing DIV5 AVI's
FOURCC to DIV3 or DIV4 seems to allow them to play just fine.
DIVX DivX OpenDivX This FOURCC code is used for versions 4.0 and later of the
DivX codec. DivX, "the MP3 of video," is the popular and market-leading MPEG-4
video codec that is emerging as the standard for full screen, full motion, DVD-
quality video over IP-based networks.
divx DivX ? Apparently used interchangeably with "DIVX". This FOURCC is
supported by LEAD's MCMP Codec.
DM4V MPEG-4 Dicas MPEG4 codec compatible with DivX4 and 5.
dmb1 Rainbow Runner hardware compression Matrox Hardware codec used by
Matrox Rainbow Runner video capture product. Apparently a form of Motion JPEG).
LEAD's MCMP codec supports this format.
DMB2 ? ? MJPEG codec used by Paradigm.
DMK2 ? ? Movies generated by a ViewSonic V36 PDA appear to be AVI files
using this video codec. Oddly enough, they are named .mpg - go figure.
DSVD DV Codec ? The DSVD codec is a VFW-based compressor that firewire- and
DV-based capture cards use. It is supported by Graphedit (from divx-digest.com),
Adobe Premier and StudioDV. VirtualDub doesn't support the format.
DUCK TrueMotion S Duck Corporation Rather nice RGB codec which, strangely
enough, appears to have two distinct FOURCCs.
dv25 DVCPRO Matrox SMPTE 314M 25Mb/s compressed video. A professional
variant of DVC (dvsd). Unlike dvsd, it uses 4:1:1 sampling structure for both NTSC
and PAL.
dv50 DVCPRO50 Matrox SMPTE 314M 50Mb/s compressed video. Has twice the
data rate (50Mbits/sec) of dv25 and uses 4:2:2 sampling structure.
DVAN ? ? ?
DVCS DV Video Microsoft? A generic DV codec along the same lines as DVSD.
Microsoft indicates here that this codec should be considered obsolete now that
standard FOURCCs for the various DV flavours have been defined.
DVE2 DVE-2 Videoconferencing Codec InSoft ?
dvh1 SMPTE 370M Panasonic? SMPTE 370M - data structure for DV based audio, data
and compressed video at 100 Mb/s - 1080/60i, 1080/50i, and 720/60p. This is
basically a high definition variant of dv25 and dv50.
dvhd 50Mbps Consumer DV Microsoft? SD-DVCR 1125-60 or SD-DVCR 1250-50. See
also dvsl and dvsd.
dvsd 25Mbps Consumer DV Pinnacle Systems? SD-DVCR 525-60 or SD-DVCR
625-50. See also dvsl and dvhd.
DVSD DV Video Microsoft? Used by Adobe After Effects, Uleads Mediastudio 6
(and probably VideoStudio) as a generic DV FOURCC. Probably the same as "dvsd".
Sources indicate that these FOURCCs were used interchangeably in early versions.
Microsoft indicates here that this codec should be considered obsolete now that
standard FOURCCs for the various DV flavours have been defined.
dvsl 12.5Mbps Consumer DV Microsoft? SD-DVCR 525-60 or SD-DVCR 625-50. See
also dvsd and dvhd.
DVX1 DVX1000SP Video Decoder Lucent ?
DVX2 DVX2000S Video Decoder Lucent ?
DVX3 DVX3000S Video Decoder Lucent ?
DX50 DivX MPEG-4
DivX Apparently this is used interchangeably with the DIVX FOURCC when using
version 5 of the codec. An alternative download site can be found here.
DXGM ? Electronic Arts? The movies in the game "Lord of the Rings: Return of
the King" are encoded in this format. Also used in movies from "Robin Hood" by
CinemaWare.
DXTn DirectX Compressed Texture Microsoft 5 different versions (DXT1 - DXT5)
of compressed texture formats exist. Full documentation is to be found in the
DirectX SDK. More info can also be found on S3's Texture Compression web site.
DXTC DirectX Texture Compression Microsoft Another of the DXTn set, I suppose.
ELK0 ? Elsa Codec used by some Elsa graphics cards. May be a YUV format with
reduced colour resolution.
EKQ0 Elsa Quick Codec Elsa ?
EM2V Etymonix MPEG-2 Video Etymonix HIgh quality, MPEG-2 I picture codec with
user selectable YUV 4:2:0, 4:2:2 or 4:4:4 compression. Suitable for use in video
editing applications. Free trial version available.
ES07 Eyestream 7 Codec Eyeball Chat
ESCP Escape Eidos Technologies Codec used by Eidos Technologies ESCAPE
VideoStudio.
ETV1 eTreppid Video Codec eTreppid Technologies ?
ETV2 eTreppid Video Codec eTreppid Technologies ?
ETVC eTreppid Video Codec eTreppid Technologies ?
FFV1 FFMPEG Codec Michael Niedermayer A lossless video codec based on
arithmetic coding developed in the open source ffmpeg project.
FLJP Field Encoded Motion JPEG D-Vision Field encoded motion JPEG with LSI
bitstream format. Morgan Multimedia offers a codec supporting this format.
FMP4 FFMpeg ? The default MPEG4 format used by tool mencoder. DirectShow
filters supporting the codec are available here.
FMVC FM Screen Capture Codec Fox Magic Software? A codec intended for use
in screen capture applications.
FPS1 Fraps Codec Fraps Codec used by Fraps screen video capture
application.
FRWA Forward Motion JPEG with alpha channel SoftLab-Nsk A version of
motion JPEG as used in the Forward project from SoftLab-Nsk. This format also
includes an 8-bit alpha channel per image.
FRWD Forward Motion JPEG SoftLab-Nsk A version of motion JPEG as used in
the Forward project from SoftLab-Nsk. Similar to FRWD but without the alpha
information.
FVF1 Fractal Video Frame Iterated Systems
GEOX GEOMPEG4 GeoVision MPEG shipped as part of GeoVision's CCTV surveillance
systems.
GJPG GT891x Codec Grand Tech Shipped as part of the driver package with some
dgital cameras from Fuji.
GLZW Motion LZW gabest@freemail.hu GIF-like codec written by
gabest@freemail.hu.
GPEG Motion JPEG gabest@freemail.hu Motion JPEG codec written as a
learning exercise by gabest@freemail.hu.
GWLT Greyscale WLT DIB Microsoft 8bpp greyscale image. WLT apparently
means "with lookup table" so it is a palettized format.
H260 through H269 ITU H.26n Intel Conferencing codecs
HDYC Raw YUV 4:2:2 ? This is apparently identical to UYVY except that the
samples use BT709 color space (as used in HD video) rather than BT470 (used for
SD).
HFYU Huffman Lossless Codec ? Huffman codec for YUV and RGB formats.
Available in source and DLL forms. Full technical information can be found here. I
am told that further information can also be found here.
HMCR Rendition Motion Compensation Format Rendition Proprietary motion
compensation surface format used by Rendition V2x00 DirectDraw driver.
HMRR Rendition Motion Compensation Format Rendition Newer, proprietary
motion compensation surface format used by Rendition drivers.
i263 ITU H.263 Intel PictureWorks NetCard Player - another H.263
implementation from Intel. There's a FAQ on this codec here and it can also be
downloaded from here.
IAN Indeo 4 Codec Intel One of a collection of FOURCCs used in Indeo 4.
ICLB CellB Videoconferencing Codec InSoft ?
IGOR Power DVD ? ?
IJPG Intergraph JPEG Intergraph Intergraph's version of a JPEG codec (don't you
hate it when I just state the obvious ?)
ILVC Layered Video Intel ?
ILVR ITU H.263+ Codec ? ?
IPDV Giga AVI DV Codec I-O Data Device, Inc. Codec used with I-O Data
Device's IEEE1394 Digital Video Control & Capture Board. This codec implements I-O
DATA's original indexed AVI architecture.
IR21 Indeo 2.1 Intel Old Indeo codec
IRAW Intel Uncompressed UYUV Intel No indication of the pixel format -
sorry.
ISME ? ? May be installed by Roxio DVD Creator 6?
IV30 through IV39 Indeo 3 Ligos The family of Indeo Video 3 codecs
originally developed by Intel but now handled by Ligos.
IV32 Indeo 3.2 Ligos Fairly widespread Indeo 3 codec
IV40 through IV49 Indeo Interactive Ligos Indeo 4.1 improves image
quality and introduces transparency masks. Ligos also offer a download here but
apparently it will cost you.
IV50 Indeo Interactive Ligos Version 5.0 of the Indeo codec series
designed for internet video delivery. Ligos also offer a download here but
apparently it will cost you.
JBYR ? Kensington? ?
jpeg JPEG Still Image Microsoft? This is presumably exactly the same as "JPEG".
LEAD's MCMP codec supports both these formats.
JPEG JPEG Still Image Microsoft This is presumably exactly the same as "jpeg".
LEAD's MCMP codec supports both these formats.
JPGL JPEG Light? ? Proprietary format used by many WebCams which are
built around the DIVIO NW 801/802 chip such as the Logitec QuickCam Pro, VideoLogic
HomeC@m and other cameras from Askey, Mustek, Microtek, and Tekom.
KMVC Karl Morton's Video Codec (presumably) ? Shipped as part of the game
"Worms" by Team17 Software. Info is allegedly obtainable from
info@beamaim.demon.co.uk.
L261 LEAD H.261 LEAD Technologies ?
L263 LEAD H.263 LEAD Technologies LEAD tell me that "The LEAD H.263 codec
is a high quality lossy interframe DirectShow and Video for Windows (VfW) codec
with a quality and compression ratio comparable to MPEG-4. It can be used for a
range of applications including video-conferencing, Internet video or surveillance
and monitoring. Existing video software, such as Windows� Media Player� and Ulead
Media Studio� can utilize this codec to play, create, convert and edit."
LBYR ? ? Based on the naming, I would hazard a guess that this describes
some Bayer image format and may have been registered by LEAD Technologies. Can
anyone confirm or deny?
LCMW LEAD MCMW Video Codec LEAD Technologies This is a wavelet-based
codec. LEAD tell me "The MCMW Codec is designed to create high-quality video using
low bandwidth (dial-up) delivery. This is achieved by using a state of the art
intraframe wavelet based compression technique that provides superior compression
performance, while still ensuring optimal quality at any compression level."
LCW2 LEAD MJPEG2000 LEAD Technologies Codec saving standard JPEG2000
streams. LEAD has more info about it here.
LEAD LEAD Video Codec LEAD Technologies LEAD tell me that this codec is now
obsolete yet it seems that their "MCMP Codec" supports it so I guess it's not as
obsolete as all that.
LGRY Grayscale Image LEAD Technologies Supports 12 and 16bpp grayscale
images with additional low and high range information required for medical images.
Format public but not finalised when this update was made.
LJ11 LEAD JPEG 4:1:1 LEAD Technologies Presumably a JPEG codec which
encodes YUV in 4:1:1 format. This is supported by LEAD's MCMP Codec.
LJ22 LEAD JPEG 4:2:2 LEAD Technologies Presumably a JPEG codec which
encodes YUV in 4:2:2 format. This is supported by LEAD's MCMP Codec.
LJ2K LEAD MJPEG 2000 LEAD Technologies LEAD tell me "the LEAD MJPEG2000
Video codec saves standard JPEG2000 streams. This codec is perfect when high
compression and interoperability are necessary."
LJ44 LEAD JPEG 4:4:4 LEAD Technologies Presumably a JPEG codec which
encodes YUV in 4:4:4 format. This is supported by LEAD's MCMP Codec.
Ljpg LEAD MJPEG Codec LEAD Technologies Supports color JPEG 4:1:1, 4:2:2,
4:4:4, grayscale JPEG 4:0:0) FOURCCs supported: MJPG, JPEG, dmb1 Lossless JPEG
support including 24-bit color and 8,12 and 16-bit grayscale. Link offers download
of a time-expiring version of the codec. This format is supported by the LEAD MCMP
and MJPEG2000 codecs.
LMP2 LEAD MPEG-2 Video Codec LEAD Technologies LEAD's implementation of
the MPEG-2 video compression standard. The codec linked here also supports several
other standard MPEG2 FOURCCs. Supports High, Main and Simple profiles, Low, Main,
High1440 and High levels.
LMP4 LEAD MPEG-4 Video Codec LEAD Technologies An H.264 codec suporting
Main and Base Profles and levels up to 3.2. LEAD offer two versions of this codec,
a normal version and a professional version which offers more options and higher
compression ratios.
LSVC Lightning Strike Video Codec ESPRE Solutions Old version of the codec now
identified as LSVX.
LSVM Lightning Strike Video Codec ESPRE Solutions Another old version of the
codec now identified as LSVX.
LSVX Lightning Strike Video Codec ESPRE Solutions Multi-bitrate decoder used in
the eViewStreamX product.
LZO1 Lempel-Ziv-Oberhumer Codec Markus Oberhumer A fast, lossless codec
available in source code format.
M263 H.263 Microsoft Redmond's codec implementing the H.263 compression
standard.
M261 H.261 Microsoft Redmond's codec implementing the H.261 compression
standard.
M4CC
m4cc MPEG-4 Divio
M4S2 MPEG-4
MC12 Motion Compensation Format ATI Technologies Proprietary format used by
ATI in MPEG decoding.
MCAM Motion Compensation Format ATI Technologies Proprietary format used by
ATI in MPEG decoding.
MJ2C Motion JPEG 2000 Morgan Multimedia Motion JPEG 2000
mJPG Motion JPEG including Huffman Tables IBM A version of Motion JPEG
which includes Huffman tables with each AVI frame. Developed by IBM before the
MJPEG standard was finalised.
MJPG Motion JPEG ? Motion JPEG video. Codecs implementing MJPEG are (or
have been) available from
MMES MPEG-2 ES Matrox Matrox MPEG-2 video elementary stream.MPEG-2 main
profile or 4:2:2 profile closed GOP IBP or I-frame only decoder.
MP2A Eval download Media Excel MPEG-2 Audio
MP2T Eval download Media Excel MPEG-2 Transport Stream
MP2V Eval download Media Excel MPEG-2 Video
MP42 MPEG-4
MP43 MPEG-4
MP4A Eval download Media Excel MPEG-4 Audio
MP4S MPEG-4
MP4T Eval download Media Excel MPEG-4 Transport Stream
mp4v MPEG-4 ? Presumably a duplicate of MP4V. LEAD's MCMP codec supports
this format and you can download an evaluation version here.
MP4V Eval download Media Excel MPEG-4 Video. LEAD's MCMP codec also
supports this format.
MPEG MPEG ? MPEG video - presumably MPEG I ?
MPG4 MPEG-4
MPGI MPEG Sigma Designs Editable MPEG codec
MR16 ? ? ?
MRCA Mrcodec FAST Multimedia And I thought it stood for "Multi Role Combat
Aircraft".
MRLE Microsoft RLE Microsoft Run length encoded RGB format from Microsoft.
Basically the same as the BI_RLE formats but Michael Knapp clarifies:
MSVC Microsoft Video 1 Microsoft Original codec shipped with Video For
Windows. Deals with 8bpp and 16bpp images. Quality leaves a lot to be desired
(IMHO). Full technical details are available here.
MSZH AVImszh Kenji Oshima Kenji Oshima also developed a multi-threaded
M3JPEG codec based on one by Morgan Multimedia. You can download this here.
Algorithm information can be found here. This is supposedly the same thing as ZLIB.
MTX1
MTX9 ? Matrox Apparently these are MJPG variations registered by Matrox
consumer products group.
MVI1 Motion Pixels MVI1 Codec ? Part of the Motion Pixels player. Install
the player and the codec will become available to other multimedia applications.
Read more at this site (look for Treasure Quest).
MVI2 Motion Pixels MVI2 Codec ? As for MVI1, this is part of the Motion
Pixels player. Read more at this site.
MWV1 Aware Motion Wavelets Aware Inc. Wavelet compression-based codec optimised
for Intel MMX platforms. Allegedly downloadable from here. Codec filename is
icmw_32.dll.
nAVI Download here ? ?
NDSC Nero Digital Cinema Nero Digital Nero registered this with me
recently but provided no information other than the name - sorry.
ndsm Nero MPEG4? Nero Digital A contributor suggests that this codec is
owned by Nero Digital and refer sto their flavour of MPEG4 but I have not been able
to confirm this.
ndsp Nero Digital Portable Nero Digital Nero have registered NDSP so my
assumption is that they get the lower case version for free.
NDSP Nero Digital Portable Nero Digital Apparently an MPEG4 implementation
of some description.
ndss Nero Digital Standard Nero Digital A contributor suggests that this
codec is owned by Nero Digital and refers to their flavour of MPEG4 but I have not
been able to confirm this.
NDSS Nero Digital Standard Nero Digital Presumably the same as ndss.
NDXC Nero Digital AVC Cinema Nero Digital Presumably a variation of
MPEG4 part 10/AVC.
NDXH Nero Digital AVC HDTV Nero Digital Presumably a variation of MPEG4
part 10/AVC.
NDXP Nero Digital AVC Portable Nero Digital Presumably a variation of
MPEG4 part 10/AVC.
NDXS Nero Digital AVC Standard Nero Digital Presumably a variation of
MPEG4 part 10/AVC.
NTN1 Video Compression 1 Nogatech/Zoran ?
NTN2 Video Compression 2 Nogatech/Zoran An evolution of NTN1.
NVDS NVidia Texture Format NVidia ?
NVHS NVidia Texture Format NVidia Apparently a texture format introduced
for GEForce 3.
NHVU NVidia Texture Format NVidia Apparently a texture format introduced
for GEForce 3.
NVS0-
NVS5 ? NVidia? Supported by GEForce 2 GTS Pro / 64Mb DDR. Possibly a
texture format.
NVT0-
NVT5 ? NVidia? Supported by GEForce 2 GTS Pro / 64Mb DDR. Possibly a
texture format.
PDVC DVC codec I-O Data Device, Inc. DV codec for I-O DATA Digital Video
Capture products.
PGVV Radius Video Vision Radius ?
PHMO Photomotion IBM ?
PIM1 Download here Pinnacle Systems MPEG-1 based codec
PIM2 ? Pinnacle Systems Pinnacle DC1000 firewire video editing card supports
this format.
pimj Pegasus Lossless JPEG Pegasus Imaging High speed compression and
decompression of 24-bit RGB and 8-bit grayscale using Predictor 1 Lossless JPEG.
Well suited for medical video. You may find additional information here.
PIXL Video XL Pinnacle Systems This is apparently an alias for VIXL. You can
find more information about it here.
PJPG PA MJPEG Pierre Albou Non-standard codec based on MJPEG.
PVEZ PowerEZ Horizons Technology TrueMotion based codec (?) It appears
that Horizons Technology has now been acquired by Raytheon and is no longer in the
codec business (can someone confirm this - their URL is now redirected). Allegedly,
you can download this codec from support.private.com but I'm not going to add a
link since this is an adult video company and I don't want to get this site
associated with porn.
PVMM PacketVideo Corporation MPEG-4 PacketVideo Corporation Software
MPEG4 codec that supports multiple bitrate encoding/decoding. It is also error
resilient allowing transmission over wired/wireless networks.
PVW2 Pegasus Wavelet 2000 Compression Pegasus Imaging High speed compression
and decompression of 24-bit RGB and 8-bit grayscale using Pegasus' proprietary
Wavelet2000 wavelet technology. Well suited for low motion, low bandwidth
applications. More information is available here.
qpeq QPEG 1.1 Q-Team ?
QPEG QPEG Q-Team Q-Team Dr.Knabe's 8-bit output codec with automatic palette
switching for seamless edits.
raw Raw RGB ? Apparently this contains "raw, uncompressed RGB bitmaps".
RGBT 32 bit support Computer Concepts That's odd. I registered RGBT at
the same time as a bunch of other FOURCCs and it was granted. The format I
registered is for 16- and 32-bit uncompressed RBG images with a transparency plane.
Microsoft's codec site, however, lists Computer Concepts rather than Brooktree
(Conexant) as the owner. Hmm...
rle Apple Animation Apple Yes this really is lower case. This format is
used to compress Quicktime files. Available in 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 24 and 32bit
flavors.
RLE Run Length Encoder Microsoft? I expect this is an equivalent to one of
the the BI_RLEx FOURCCs (see the RGB page). The Win2K clock.avi sample uses this
format. Final character in the FOURCC is a space.
RLE4 4bpp Run Length Encoder Microsoft Equivalent to BI_RLE4. See RGB page
for more details.
RLE8 8bpp Run Length Encoder Microsoft Equivalent to BI_RLE8. See RGB page
for more details.
RMP4 MPEG-4 AS Profile Codec Sigma Designs Press release here describes
this codec.
RPZA Apple Video Apple RGB555 block-based codec used in Quicktime
files.
RT21 Real Time Video 2.1 Intel What Indeo was called before the
marketing guys got their hands on it. RTV or Real Time Video was the format
produced by Intel's ActionMedia II adapter back in the late 80s. When the 80486
came along, this migrated to the software-decodable Indeo formats used today.
rv20 RealVideo G2 Real RealVideo G2 (6.0 and greater versions of the player
and encoder)
rv30 RealVideo 8 Real
RV40 RealVideo 10? Real Apparently you need to install RealPlayer 10 to
enable playback of any AVI encoded with RV40.
RVX RDX Intel ?
s422 VideoCap C210
YUV Codec Tekram International YUV422 codec shipped as part of the driver
package for Tekram's C210 product.
SAN3 DivX 3 ? A direct copy of DivX 3.11a, apparently. If you use a
FOURCC changer tool on these AVIs they will play with the standard DivX codecs.
SDCC Digital Camera Codec Sun Communications ?
SEDG Samsung MPEG-4 Samsung MPEG-4 hardware and software codec used in
Samsung digital video products.
SFMC Surface Fitting Method CrystalNet CrystalGram video email codec.
SMC Apple Graphics Apple 8-bit, block-based codec used in Quicktime
files.
SMP4 ? ? Codec used by Samsung VP-ms15 Digicam. This appears to be a DIVX
clone since apparently SMP4 files play fine if you change the FOURCC to DIVX.
SMSC Proprietary codec Radius ?
SMSD Proprietary codec Radius ?
smsv Wavelet Video WorldConnect
SP40 ? SunPlus Appears to be an uncompressed YUV format of some kind but I
have no information on this other than that.
SP44 ? SunPlus Presumably a precursor to SP54?
SP54 ? SunPlus Apparently a form of MJPEG but with some header or other
missing. Software shipped with a number of low end digital cameras and webcams such
as Aiptek's Pocketcam digital still camera, Logitech's ClickSmart and Mustek's
gSmart mini 2 use this format. These use SunPlus chipsets so presumably this
explains the "SP".
SPIG Spigot Radius ?
SQZ2 VXTreme Video Codec V2 Microsoft ?
SV10 Video R1 Sorenson Media Allegedly popular as a Quicktime codec. Used
for trailer videos on Star Wars Episode 1 and other games.
STVA ST CMOS Imager Data (Bayer) ST Microelectronics Data from ST CMOS
Imagers that is passed to a codec external to the driver for processing to a
displayable format. More info may be available at the ST Vision and Imaging Unit
web site.
STVB ST CMOS Imager Data (Nudged Bayer) ST Microelectronics Data from ST CMOS
Imagers that is passed to a codec external to the driver for processing to a
displayable format. More info may be available at the ST Vision and Imaging Unit
web site.
STVC ST CMOS Imager Data (Bunched) ST Microelectronics Data from ST CMOS
Imagers that is passed to a codec external to the driver for processing to a
displayable format. More info may be available at the ST Vision and Imaging Unit
web site.
STVX ST CMOS Imager Data (Extended CODEC Data Format) ST Microelectronics
Data from ST CMOS Imagers that is passed to a codec external to the driver
for processing to a displayable format. More info may be available at the ST Vision
and Imaging Unit web site.
STVY ST CMOS Imager Data (Extended CODEC Data Format with Correction Data) ST
Microelectronics Data from ST CMOS Imagers that is passed to a codec external to
the driver for processing to a displayable format. More info may be available at
the ST Vision and Imaging Unit web site.
SVQ1 Sorenson Video 1 Sorenson Media Hierarchicial adaptive multistage vector
quantizer with mean removal and interframe motion compensation. Used in Quicktime.
Complete technical details can be found here.
SVQ3 Sorenson Video 3 Sorenson Media Video codec used in Quicktime files. A
variant of H.264
TLMS Motion Intraframe Codec TeraLogic ?
TLST Motion Intraframe Codec TeraLogic ?
TM20 TrueMotion 2.0 Duck Corporation Version 2.0 of Duck Corp's Truemotion
codec. I'm told this codec is available as part of a pack that can be downloaded
here.
TM2X TrueMotion 2X Duck Corporation Duck Corp's follow-on codec after TM20.
TMIC Motion Intraframe Codec TeraLogic ?
TMOT TrueMotion S Horizons Technology Another FOURCC for TrueMotion S.
This relates to the version of the codec licensed by Horizons Technology and is not
compatible with DUCK.
TR20 TrueMotion RT 2.0 Duck Corporation Realtime version of TrueMotion.
TSCC TechSmith Screen Capture Codec Techsmith Corp. Codec used by the
Camtasia Screen "camcorder" application.
TV10 Tecomac Low-Bit Rate Codec Tecomac, Inc. ?
TVJP ? Pinnacle/Truevision Used by the Targa 2000 board.
TVMJ ? Pinnacle/Truevision Used by the Targa 2000 board. Morgan Multimedia
offers a codec supporting this format.
TY2C Trident Decompression Driver Trident Microsystems ?
TY2N ? Trident Microsystems ?
TY0N ? Trident Microsystems ?
UCOD ClearVideo eMajix.com Fractal compression-based video codec available as a
Video for Windows codec and in the ClearFusion Netscape plugin package.
ULTI Ultimotion IBM Corp. Shipped with OS/2 but also available for Video for
Windows. Link is to a very old version of the codec for Windows.
v210 10-bit 4:2:2 Component YCbCr AJA Video Systems Uncompressed format
supported by AJA Video Systems Xena adapter.
V261 Lucent VX2000S Lucent ?
V655 YUV 4:2:2 Vitec Multimedia Component ordering and packing unknown. Can you
help?
VCR1 ATI Video Codec 1 ATI Technologies Codec used by some ATI TV-PC
products.
VCR2 ATI Video Codec 2 ATI Technologies Codec used by some ATI TV-PC
products.
VCR3-9 ATI Video Codecs ATI Technologies Registered for ATI Video Codecs
version 3-9. I'm not sure these actually exist but the registrations are valid.
VDCT VideoMaker Pro DIB Vitec Multimedia 16bpp format - no information on
colour space, packing or component ordering.
VDOM VDOWave VDONet Another streaming video format from VDONet.
VDOW VDOLive VDONet H.263 internet streaming video format. Allegedly to
be used (being used ?) by Microsoft in it's NetShow offering.
VDTZ VideoTizer YUV Codec Darim Vision Co. Codec used to store YUV AVIs
captured with Darim Vision's VideoTizer product.
VGPX VideoGramPix Alaris Alaris VGPixel 32-bit AVI compression driver.
It seems that this codec is installed along with the software for the "Alaris Wee
Cam." The codec doesn't appear to be available separately but, allegedly, works
fine if you install the Wee Cam software even without the camera. You may also find
some information at http://www.alaris.com/vg_tech/vg_tchtx.htm and
http://www.videogram.com.
VIFP VFAPI Codec ? Take a look at http://www.doom9.org where you may
find more information.
VIDS ? Vitec Multimedia YUV 4:2:2 CCIR 601 for V422 (no, I don't understand
this either)
VIVO Vivo H.263 Vivo Software Vivo's version of the videoconferencing
"standard" H.263 compression format (version 2.0.0).
VIXL Video XL Miro (now part of Pinnacle Systems) Used my MiroVideo
products such as the DC10, DC20, DC30, etc. A motion JPEG format that is
accelerated in hardware with the Zoran chipset. You can find more information about
it here.
VLV1 ? VideoLogic Codec probably used in VideoLogic's Captivator product line
VP30 VP3 On2 On2 tell me "On2's VP3 codec will encode video into a VP3 file in
multiple bit rates (roughly 220 Kbps, 330 Kbps, and 440 Kbps) and at optimum frame
rates (usually 29.97 fps). This multiple bit rate file allows the TrueCast server
to scale dynamically and smoothly as bandwidth congestion increases and decreases,
providing the viewer with a consistent and reliable experience, without choppiness
or interruption."
VP31 VP31 On2 The successor to VP30. This algorithm was open sourced by On2 in
2001-2002 and is the basis for the Theora Video Codec. Technical details are
available here.
VP40 VP40 On2 Another in On2/Duck's line of video codecs.
VP50 VP50 On2 ..and another
VP60 VP60 On2 ..and another
VP61 VP61 On2 ..I can feel a pattern developing.
VP62 VP62 On2 ..I wonder which one will be next?
VQC1 VideoQuest Codec 1 ViewQuest Digital video camera codec. ViewQuest
offer lots of driver downloads on their site so you may find this in one of those
packages.
VQC2 VideoQuest Codec 2 ViewQuest Codec apparently used in Kodak DVC325
digital camera. Check the ViewQuest site download page - you may find the codec
there somewhere.
VQJC ? ? ?
vssv VSS Video Vanguard Software Solutions Real-time or near-real-time
encoding with high compression ratios and good image quality.
VUUU ? ? ?
VX1K VX1000S Video Codec Lucent ?
VX2K VX2000S Video Codec Lucent ?
VXSP VX1000SP Video Codec Lucent ?
VYU9 ATI YUV ATI Technologies Planar YUV format supported by some ATI capture
systems?
VYUY ATI YUV ATI Technologies Packed YUV format supported by some ATI capture
systems?
WBVC W9960 Winbond Electronics ?
WHAM Microsoft Video 1 Microsoft Yet another FOURCC describing Microsoft's
MSVC/CRAM codec.
WINX Winnov Software Compression Winnov Software codec used by some Winnov
Videum products.
WJPG Winbond JPEG ? Format supported by AverMedia USB TV-tuner/capture
device.
WMV1 Windows Media Video 7 Microsoft
WMV2 Windows Media Video 8 Microsoft
WMV3 Windows Media Video 9 Microsoft You may find other useful information
here.
WMVA Windows Media Video 9 Advanced Profile Microsoft The codec originally
submitted for consideration as SMPTE VC1. This is not VC1 compliant and is no
longer supported by Microsoft.
WNV1 Winnov Hardware Compression Winnov Hardware codec used by Winnov
Videum products.
WVC1 SMPTE VC1 Microsoft Microsoft's implementation of the SMPTE VC1 codec.
x263 Download here Xirlink Another H.263 codec. This one is apparently
used by an IBM-branded webcam.
X264 H.264 ? This FOURCC was originally registered by a company called
XiWave but their web presence has disappeared. I am now informed that it is used by
a popular open source H.264 implementation.
XVID XVID MPEG-4 XVID Codec is available in source form from XVID web site.
Can also be downloaded as part of the Gordian Knot Codec Pack.
XLV0 XL Video Decoder NetXL Inc. ?
XMPG XING MPEG XING Corporation Editable (I frame only) MPEG codec
XWV0-
XWV9 XiWave Video Codec XiWave XWV3 is currently used to describe Xi-3
Video. Others are unused.
XXAN ? Origin? Codec useing Huffman and RLE encoding paired with basic
interframing. This format is used in Wing Commander 3 and 4 movies.
Y16 16bpp Grayscale Video Thermoteknix Systems Ltd. A simple, uncompressed
format for recording 16bpp grayscale images.
Y411 YUV 4:1:1 Microsoft Supposedly 16bpp packed but 4:1:1 is usually 12bpp -
odd. This is an uncompressed YUV format.
Y41P Brooktree YUV 4:1:1 Conexant This is an uncompressed YUV 411 format I
registered about 7 years ago. I've stumbled on a few AVIs that use it, though, so I
am listing it here. Download the ZIP and add VIDC.BT20=btvvc32.drv and
VIDC.Y41P=btvvc32.drv to the [drivers32] section of your SYSTEM.INI to enable the
codec
Y444 ? ? Format provided by the Windows 2000 drivers for the iRez Stealth
Fire camera. Seems to be a copy of IYU2.
Y8 Grayscale video ? Probably a duplicate of the uncompressed Y800 format.
The 2 last characters are spaces. See also GREY which appears to be another
duplicate
YC12 YUV 12 codec Intel ?
YUV8 Caviar YUV8 Winnov ?
YUV9 YUV9 Raw Format Intel An uncompressed YUV format used by Intel Indeo
video products.
YUVP ? ? An uncompressed YCrCb 4:2:2 format using 10-bit precision
components ordered Y0 U0 Y1 V0. I have no idea how the 10 bit samples are packed -
sorry.
YUY2 Raw, uncompressed YUV 4:2:2 Microsoft (probably) Yes, I know this isn't a
compressed format but I get so many questions about where to find a codec for YUY2
AVIs that it's here to allow people to find the answer easily. I'm told "VirtualDub
has been able to decode YUY2 internally since V1.3a. Newer versions of Ben Rudiak-
Gould's Huffyuv codec will also convert YUY2 or UYVY data to RGB"
YUYV ? Canopus Compressed YUV format. Some of the software on the Canopus
download page may include this codec (I'm guessing - please tell me if this is
true).
YV12 YUV 4:2:0 Planar Microsoft or Apple? Uncompressed format commonly used
in MPEG video processing. You can find more informatio on the YUV formats page.
YV16 YUV 4:2:2 Planar Elecard Uncompressed format similar to YV12 but with
twice the chroma resolution.
YV92 ? Intel Codec used by Intel's Smart Video Recorder product.
Apparently a compresssed YVU9 format.
ZLIB ? ? A generic lossless codec that you can download from here.
Apparently also contains the MSZH codec. Algorithm info can be found here. May be
the same algorithm used in compressing PNG images.
ZMBV The DoxBox Project DoxBox Capture Codec A codec using ZLIB
compression which is used to capture screen information.
ZPEG Video Zipper Metheus ?
ZyGo ZyGoVideo ZyGo Digital Video codec usually packaged in Quicktime
files. Investigations suggest that it may be a variant of H.263.
ZYYY ? ? ?