Most compatible codec?

[aireq]

Some software I use at work exports animations as videos, which I need to distribute to a number of people. The problem I am having is that most of these people are not computer savvy enough to install a codec on their own, and or they do not have internet access which would allow a codec to be detected and installed automatically.

There are a number of options in the software for different codecs to use, and I'm not sure which one would be the best. I do not want anyone to have to install a codec to view the video, so something like DivX, or XVid would not work. Also since these videos will most likely be emailed a codec that can generate very small files with-out to much degradation in quality would be preferred. However, compatibility is the most important constraint, as I want to be sure anyone with window XP will be able to play one of these videos in WMP with out having to install anything.

The options I have now are:

Cinepak Codec by Radius
Intel 4:2:0 Video V2.50
Intel Indeo (R) Video R3.2
Intel IYUV codec
Microsoft RLE
Microsoft Video 1
Microsoft H.263 Video Codec
Microsoft H.261 Video Codec
Indeo Video 5.10
Microsoft MPEG-4 Video Codec V1
Microsoft MPEG-4 Video Codec V2
TechSmith Screen Capture Codec
Full Frames (Uncompressed)

Which if any of these would be a good choice. Is there a encoder I can install that would create higher quality/smaller videos yet still be playable on a computer with out installing codec?

[foxyshadis]

Cinepak is definitely the most "compatible" PC codec ever, as it's been installed on every windows and mac PC since at least 1992. It's quite ugly, however. You might notice that you can't encode with all of those codecs, btw, some are restricted to certain applications. Indeo 3.2/4 codecs are similar but a little more watchable. (Buggy, though.)

Another very widely compatible codec that's a lot better than Cinepak is MPEG-1, but you won't find it in vdub's menu. You need tmpegenc or similar for that.

The most compatible modern codec, on windows and mac, is WMV7 or 8. You might want to distribute the WMV codecs (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/forpros/format/codecdownload.aspx) to any clients who can't play it, or if you want to use wmv9, just to be on the safe side.

[Jay Bee]

Uncompressed and then reencode to MPEG-1 (works on all computers) or WMV9 (works on all Windows XP machines).

EDIT: too slow

[Blue_MiSfit]

MPEG-1 will always work, though you need over 1000kbit for acceptable quality at 320x240.

Maybe WMV, though without internet access it may be difficult knowing exactly which version of the wmv codec XP comes with. It should't be TOO hard though...

Seriously though, include VLC on the distribution medium, and make the installer autorun, then you can use anything you want, even MKV with x264 and HE-AAC if you want :D

Or just automate ffdshow's installer... It's really not hard. Installing a video codec takes like 3 or 4 clicks.

Honestly, none of the codecs you listed are remotely decent. Cinepak. HAH!

You can't have everything :)

~MiSfit

[aireq]

Uncompressed and then reencode to MPEG-1 (works on all computers) or WMV9 (works on all Windows XP machines).

EDIT: too slow


Will WMV9 really work on all machines? Even if they don't have internet access to install it? What would be the easiest way to encode to WMV 7, 8, or 9?

[Jay Bee]

Will WMV9 really work on all machines? Even if they don't have internet access to install it? What would be the easiest way to encode to WMV 7, 8, or 9?

As long as you don't use the newer "WMV9 Advanced Profile" I think it will. Win98/Me needs to install a codec to do WMV9 but XP should do it by default. I've never made any WMV's but I think "Windows Movie Maker" should be easy enough.

[Sirber]

MPEG1 is definitly the most compatible codec. Bitrate is it's only problem.

[Shinigami-Sama]

I dont see why you can't just include an xvid installer with it
xvid is what 5MB tops? installer included

you could try a dvd complient stream(mpeg-2)
most people now a day have some sort of dvd playing software installed

[Mug Funky]

thanks to the popularity of directshow based DVD players (and all-in-one players like nero showtime), and such a huge variety of mpeg based splitters and decoders, MPEG-1 playback can often be broken, especially in stock media players.

Quicktime player will always do it acceptibly though, and most PC users have installed it at some point.

so i'd go for MPEG-1, and recommend it be played back in quicktime.

as far as encoding it goes, you have tons of choices. i quite like quenc for this purpose as it'll do the audio as well, and the quality is good (you can go lower than 1mbps for 320x240 btw - it's actually quite efficient in spite of its age).

[edit]

another option that's gaining popularity is flash video - most machines have it, and it plays back the same on all machines. also, ffmpeg and mencoder can encode it (at better quality than the payware sorenson spark).

[aireq]

I dont see why you can't just include an xvid installer with it
xvid is what 5MB tops? installer included

you could try a dvd complient stream(mpeg-2)
most people now a day have some sort of dvd playing software installed

For one these people aren't confortable installing software. And in many cases their/our ITS department is very restrictive, and does not give users enough access to their own computer to install anything.

[Shinigami-Sama]

then I'm inclined to go with a packaged media player
VLC and Mplay bot use internal codecs
so I'd side with them
and seeing as how both can run run standalone without installers(last I checked anyways) I dont see how this could be a problem

[ilovejedd]

Yep, I'm with Shinigami-sama on this one. Package VLC or mplayer with your content and maybe create an autorun.inf file to launch your chosen player. Or does your IT department also restrict running programs from removable media?

How do you do restrict that, btw? When our library PCs were still running Windows XP, running applications from a floppy disc was prohibited. I got around it by temporarily copying the applications I needed to a local folder and deleted them afterwards but I'm still curious.

[Shinigami-Sama]

done using GPOs
AKA Group Policy Objects
you can further Define the rules of the GPO with an attached WMI filter which uses SQL like queries to filter the host information
its a whole M$ course in itself; they get complicated quickly

[ilovejedd]

@aireq
Copied this from the FFmpeg website (http://ffmpeg.mplayerhq.hu/compat.html):
The Windows testing computer is a Pentium 4 PC with a fresh install of Windows XP with Service Pack 2 pre-applied. Windows Media Player is the default, "out of the box" version installed with the platform.

Windows Media Player
The following command lines produced AVI files that were playable with the default WinXP/SP2 installation of Windows Media Player:

* ffmpeg -i <inputfile.ext> -vcodec msmpeg4 -vtag MP43 -acodec mp3 <file.avi>
This is the same as the infamous 'DIV3' DivX ;-) codec. However, if the '-vtag' option is omitted, the 'DIV3' tag will be inserted by default and WMP will reject the video format.
* ffmpeg -i <inputfile.ext> -vcodec msmpeg4v2 -acodec mp3 <file.avi>
use Microsoft MPEG-4v2 video
* ffmpeg -i <inputfile.ext> -vcodec wmv7 -acodec mp3 <file.avi>
use Microsoft WMV7

Note that if you omit a specific '-acodec' audio coding format, FFmpeg will encode MP2 audio by default. This also works with the default WMP.

Note also that MP3 encoding support is external to FFmpeg and must be configured appropriately.

Another compatible format that WMP can handle is vanilla MPEG. The command line:

ffmpeg -i <inputfile.ext> <file.mpg>
IMHO, DIV3 looks better at lower bitrates than MPEG so if you just need it to be viewable in Windows XP SP2 PCs, you can go the DIV3 route.

@Shinigami-Sama
Ack, head spinning... Curiously enough, even with all those restrictions, they didn't bother securing critical networked PCs. I was able to get in to one of the Registrar's computers (no hacking was done on my part, I don't have skills to do that) and saw some old documents with grades for the older student batches (1993-1995). Seriously, even if they're old data, what are those doing on a shared documents folder?

[foxyshadis]

If you have xp pro (or 2k), just type gpedit.msc into a run box or command line, and you'll see all the policies you can run. By looking over them, and reading the sidebar descriptions, you can find out how to configure and optionally lock down the system far more than the control panel offers. No class necessary.

Anyway, back on topic: Xvid is no 5 megs. Compressed, it's under 350K! You can turn it into a self-extracting archive, or zip, and add a batch file to be automatically run to register it and place its path in the user path (so xvid.dll can be found). Make sure to extract it to "%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Xvid" or something like that so it doesn't cause long logon/logoff delays for corporate users.

This is one option if you want to use xvid, but PC only. For WMV8, pretty much a requirement if you want pre-XP clients and macs (WMV9 support on mac is horrible), I'm not sure what codec you need to do the encoding, I just know it's possible because my camera has options for many different WMV7, 8, and 9 modes. The other option is using ffmpeg, as above.

ffmpeg, vlc, mplayer, etc, are just huge, and would no doubt anger dial-up users asked to download them ("just for a stupid video, I'll just tell him never mind") much more than something smaller. Of course sending out a floppy/cd would be even better if you could swing it.

[Shinigami-Sama]

GPOs and GPedit is the same thing; GPO is more of a domain side of things.
I was including a self extracting installer in the 5meg figure as well
but I'm out of ideas here

[bond]

my vote also goes out to mpeg-1...

Will WMV9 really work on all machines? Even if they don't have internet access to install it? What would be the easiest way to encode to WMV 7, 8, or 9?no. you will need to have windows and windows media player installed, which is definitely not on "all machines"

[Shinigami-Sama]

wait; dont many machines have flash installed?
cant you use flash to do so?
the size might suffer but I havn't seen many machines without atleast flash7 on in a few years...

[int10h]

What about video DVD ? IMHO, television is a good way to watch videos, and it does not require computer knowledge.

[aireq]

What about video DVD ? IMHO, television is a good way to watch videos, and it does not require computer knowledge.

We want to be able to email these videos.

[zambelli]

I second MPEG-1 for best global compatibility. If you're targetting specifically Windows machines, you can get better codec efficiency with MS MPEG-4 v3. That will play natively on all Windows versions from 2000 and up.

On second thought, I'm not sure if Vista still ships with that codec. But that's not really of concern to you at this moment, I suppose.

[Jay Bee]

We want to be able to email these videos.

This may pose a greater challenge than the problem of finding a compatible codec. You need to look at attachment file size limitations etc. especially if you're sending to business addresses.

[aireq]

I second MPEG-1 for best global compatibility. If you're targetting specifically Windows machines, you can get better codec efficiency with MS MPEG-4 v3. That will play natively on all Windows versions from 2000 and up.

On second thought, I'm not sure if Vista still ships with that codec. But that's not really of concern to you at this moment, I suppose.

Well I can seee V1 and V2 from my laptop (running XP). However, a coworker of mine what also has a laptop which is "newer" but does not have an option for V1 or V2. I'm not to concerned about anyone running anything less then 2000, most (or all) will be running XP. I'm definitely not concerned with the potential of people running vista, at least at this point.

I'm not to concerned about anyone not using windows either. So it sounds like MS MPEG V3 may be the best option.

[Sirber]

If you use microsoft codecs, WMP will go fetch them if missing.
Else you could use QuickTime and tell your people that they need it.