Find what video and audio codecs you need

1) Using MediaInfo
MediaInfo supplies technical and tag information about a video or audio file.
It is free software (free of charge and free access to source code: GPL or LGPL licence)
What information can I get from MediaInfo?

* General: title, author, director, album, track number, date, duration...
* Video: codec, aspect, fps, bitrate...
* Audio: codec, sample rate, channels, language, bitrate...
* Text: language of subtitle
* Chapters: number of chapters, list of chapters

DivX, XviD, H263, H.263, H264, x264, ASP, AVC, iTunes, MPEG-1, MPEG1, MPEG-2, MPEG2, MPEG-4, MPEG4, MP4, M4A, M4V, QuickTime, RealVideo, RealAudio, RA, RM, MSMPEG4v1, MSMPEG4v2, MSMPEG4v3, VOB, DVD, WMA, VMW, ASF, 3GP, 3GPP, 3GP2
What format (container) does MediaInfo support?

* Video: MKV, OGM, AVI, DivX, WMV, QuickTime, Real, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DVD (VOB)...
(Codecs: DivX, XviD, MSMPEG4, ASP, H.264, AVC...)
* Audio: OGG, MP3, WAV, RA, AC3, DTS, AAC, M4A, AU, AIFF...
* Subtitles: SRT, SSA, ASS, SAMI...
Homepage Download

2) Using GSpot
GSpot will allow us to open our AVI files, which it will analyze to determine what codecs are needed for the video and audio streams and other information about them such as aspect ratio, resolution, bitrate, sampling frequency, framerate & the number of channels of audio in the source.

Analyzing the information from GSpot

There is a lot more you can find out about your video from GSpot than just what codecs you require to play the file.

Video

The Video information gives you the bitrate, framerate, resolution, aspect ratio and the codec used to code the video (this is what we need). Along with this information, GSpot will even tell you whether or not this is supported under the current codecs and filters you have installed (It will say Codecs are installed)..

Audio

The audio information gives you the the bitrate, sampling frequency, number of channels, and the codec used to code the audio (this is what we need). Beside this information you an read whether or not the audio is supported under the current codecs and filters you have installed (It will tell you the codec is installed).

GSpot - Download and install this freeware.

3 Using AVIcodec
AVIcodec is a free multimedia files analyzer. It gives detailled information, especially the codecs needed to play the file, and where to download those codecs if they are missing on your system. AVIcodec can also produce a simple list of all codecs installed on your computer, whether they are actual video or audio codecs, or just Windows' DirectShow filters. AVICodec works on some videos that GSpot can't handle and has better support for non-AVI formats, such as VCD, SVCD, DVD, etc.


* Publisher Philippe Duby (Lyon, France)
* Homepage AVIcodec



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