Mercurial > mplayer.hg

view DOCS/en/codecs.html @ 10079:7c13793dbfa0

Find changesets by keywords (author, files, the commit message), revision number or hash, or revset expression.
Vorbis header packet lengths were calculated incorrectly.
author mosu
date Tue, 06 May 2003 10:36:32 +0000
parents 67c509c9e9ee
children e1deeb0c30e3
line wrap: on
line source

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<HTML>

<HEAD>
  <TITLE>Codecs - MPlayer - The Movie Player for Linux</TITLE>
  <LINK REL="stylesheet" TYPE="text/css" HREF="../default.css">
  <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
</HEAD>

<BODY>


<H2><A NAME="codecs">2.2 Supported codecs</A></H2>


<H3><A NAME="video_codecs">2.2.1 Video codecs</A></H3>

<P>See the
  <A HREF="http://www.mplayerhq.hu/DOCS/codecs-status.html">codec status table</A>
  for the complete, daily generated list. Quite a few codecs are available for
  download from our homepage. Grab them from our
  <A HREF="http://www.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/codecs/">codecs page</A>.</P>

<P>The most important ones above all:</P>
<UL>
  <LI><B>MPEG1</B> (<B>VCD</B>) and <B>MPEG2</B> (<B>DVD</B>) video</LI>
  <LI>native decoders for <B>DivX ;-)</B>, <B>OpenDivX</B>, <B>DivX4</B>, <B>
    DivX5</B>, <B>M$ MPEG4</B> v1, v2 and other MPEG4 variants</LI>
  <LI>native decoder for <B>Windows Media Video 7/8</B> (<B>WMV1/WMV2</B>), and
    Win32 DLL decoder for <B>Windows Media Video 9</B> (<B>WMV3</B>), both
    used in .wmv files</LI>
  <LI>native <B>Sorenson 1 (SVQ1)</B> decoder</LI>
  <LI>Win32/QT <B>Sorenson 3 (SVQ3)</B> decoder</LI>
  <LI><B>3ivx</B> v1, v2 decoder</LI>
  <LI>Cinepak and <B>Intel Indeo</B> codecs (3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 5.0)</LI>
  <LI><B>MJPEG</B>, AVID, VCR2, ASV2 and other hardware formats</LI>
  <LI>VIVO 1.0, 2.0, I263 and other <B>h263</B>(+) variants</LI>
  <LI>FLI/FLC</LI>
  <LI><B>RealVideo 1.0</B> codec from libavcodec, and <B>RealVideo 2.0</B>,
    <B>3.0</B> and <B>4.0</B> codecs using RealPlayer libraries</LI>
  <LI>native decoder for HuffYUV</LI>
  <LI>various old simple RLE-like formats</LI>
</UL>

<P>If you have a Win32 codec not listed here which is not supported yet, please
  read the <A HREF="#importing">codec importing HOWTO</A> and help us add support
  for it.</P>


<H4><A NAME="divx">2.2.1.1 DivX4/DivX5</A></H4>

<P>This section contains information about the DivX4 and DivX5 codecs of
  <A HREF="http://www.projectmayo.com">Project Mayo</A>. Their first available
  alpha version was OpenDivX 4.0 alpha 47 and 48. Support for this was included
  in MPlayer in the past, and built by default. We also used its
  postprocessing code to optionally enhance visual quality of MPEG1/2 movies.
  Now we use our own, for all file types.</P>

<P>The new generation of this codec is called DivX4 and can even decode
  movies made with the infamous DivX codec! In addition it is much faster than
  the native Win32 DivX DLLs but slower than libavcodec.  Hence its usage as a
  decoder is <B>DISCOURAGED</B>. However, it is useful for encoding. One
  disadvantage of this codec is that it is not available under an Open Source
  license.</P>

<P>DivX4Linux works in two modes:</P>

<DL>
  <DT><CODE>-vc odivx</CODE></DT>
  <DD>Uses the codec in OpenDivX fashion. In this case it
    produces YV12 images in its own buffer, and MPlayer does colorspace
    conversion via libvo. (<B>Fast, recommended!</B>)</DD>

  <DT><CODE>-vc divx4</CODE></DT>
  <DD>Uses the colorspace conversion of the codec.
    In this mode you can use YUY2/UYVY, too. (<B>SLOW</B>)</DD>
</DL>

<P>The <CODE>-vc odivx</CODE> method is usually faster, due to the fact that it
  transfers image data in YV12 (planar YUV 4:2:0) format, thus requiring much
  less bandwidth on the bus. For packed YUV modes (YUY2, UYVY) use the
  <CODE>-vc divx4</CODE> method. For RGB modes the speed is the same, differing
  at best according to your current color depth.</P>

<P><B>Note:</B> If your <CODE>-vo</CODE> driver supports direct rendering, then
  <CODE>-vc divx4</CODE> may be faster or even the fastest solution.</P>

<P>The Divx4/5 binary codec library can be downloaded from
  <A HREF="http://avifile.sourceforge.net">avifile</A> or
  <A HREF="http://www.divx.com">divx.com</A>.
  Unpack it, run <CODE>./install.sh</CODE> as root and do not forget adding
  <CODE>/usr/local/lib</CODE> to your <CODE>/etc/ld.so.conf</CODE> and running
  <CODE>ldconfig</CODE>.</P>

<P>Get the CVS version of the OLD OpenDivx core library like this:</P>

<OL>
  <LI><CODE>cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.projectmayo.com:/cvsroot login</CODE></LI>
  <LI><CODE>cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.projectmayo.com:/cvsroot co divxcore</CODE></LI>
  <LI>This core library is split into a decore and encore library that have to
    be compiled separately. For the decore Library, simply type
    <PRE>
    cd divxcore/decore/build/linux
    make
    cp libdivxdecore.so /usr/local/lib 
    ln -s libdivxdecore.so /usr/local/lib/libdivxdecore.so.0 
    cp ../../src/decore.h /usr/local/include
    </PRE>
    </LI>
  <LI>Alas, for the encore library there is no Linux Makefile available, and the
    MMX optimized code only works on Windows. You can still compile it, though,
    by using this
    <A HREF="ftp://ftp.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/contrib/divx-mf/Makefile">Makefile</A>.
    <PRE>
    cd ../../../encore/build
    mkdir linux
    cd linux
    cp path/Makefile .
    make
    cp libdivxencore.so /usr/local/lib
    ln -s libdivxencore.so /usr/local/lib/libdivxencore.so.0
    cp ../../src/encore.h /usr/local/include
    </PRE>
    </LI>
</OL>

<P>MPlayer autodetects DivX4/DivX5 if it is properly installed, just
  compile as usual. If it does not detect it, you did not install or configure
  it correctly.</P>


<H4><A NAME="libavcodec">2.2.1.2 FFmpeg DivX/libavcodec</A></H4>

<P><A HREF="http://ffmpeg.sourceforge.net">FFmpeg</A> contains an
  <B>open source</B> codec package, which is capable of decoding streams
  encoded with
  H263/MJPEG/RV10/DivX3/DivX4/DivX5/MP41/MP42/WMV1/WMV2/HuffYUV
  video, or WMA (Windows Media Audio) audio codecs. Not only some of
  them can be encoded with, but it also offers higher speed than the Win32
  codecs or the DivX.com DivX4/5 library!</P>

<P>It contains a lot of nice codecs, especially important are the MPEG4
  variants:
  DivX3, DivX4, DivX5, Windows Media Video 7 (WMV1). Also a very
  interesting one is the WMA decoder.</P>

<P>If you use an MPlayer release you have libavcodec right in the
  package, just build as usual. If you use MPlayer from CVS you have to
  extract libavcodec from the FFmpeg CVS tree as FFmpeg releases <B>don't</B>
  work with MPlayer. In order to achieve this do:</P>

<OL>
  <LI><CODE>cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.ffmpeg.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/ffmpeg login</CODE></LI>
  <LI><CODE>cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.ffmpeg.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/ffmpeg co ffmpeg</CODE></LI>
  <LI>Move the <CODE>libavcodec</CODE> directory from the FFmpeg sources to the
    root of the MPlayer CVS tree. It should look like this:
    <P>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<CODE>main/libavcodec</CODE></P>
    Symlinking is <B>not</B> enough, you have to copy or move it!</LI>
  <LI>Compile. Configure should detect problems before compilation.</LI>
</OL>

<P><B>Note:</B> MPlayer from CVS does contain a libavcodec
  subdirectory, but it does <B>not</B> contain the source for libavcodec!
  You must follow the steps above to obtain the source for this library.</P>

<P>With FFmpeg and my Matrox G400, I can view even the highest resolution DivX
  movies without dropped frames on my K6/2 500.</P>


<H4><A NAME="xanim">2.2.1.3 XAnim codecs</A></H4>

<H4>FOREWORD</H4>
<P>
  Be advised that the XAnim binary codecs are packaged with a piece of text
  claiming to be a legally binding software license which, besides other
  restrictions, forbids the user to use the codecs in conjunction with any
  program other than XAnim. However, the XAnim author has yet to bring legal
  action against anyone for codec-related issues.
</P>

<H4>INSTALLATION AND USAGE</H4>
<P>MPlayer is capable of employing the XAnim codecs for decoding. Follow
  the instructions to enable them:</P>

<OL>
  <LI>Download the codecs you wish to use from the
    <A HREF="http://xanim.va.pubnix.com">XAnim site</A>. The <B>3ivx</B> codec
    is not there, but at the <A HREF="http://www.3ivx.com">3ivx site</A>.</LI>
  <LI><B>OR</B> download the codecs pack from our
    <A HREF="http://www.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/codecs/">codecs page</A>.
    </LI>
  <LI>Use the <CODE>--with-xanimlibdir</CODE> option to tell configure where
    to find the XAnim codecs. By default, it looks for them at
    <CODE>/usr/local/lib/xanim/mods, /usr/lib/xanim/mods and /usr/lib/xanim</CODE>.
    Alternatively you can set the environment variable <I>XANIM_MOD_DIR</I> to
    the directory of the XAnim codecs.</LI>
  <LI>Rename/symlink the files, cutting out the architecture stuff, so they will
    have filenames like these: <CODE>vid_cvid.xa, vid_h263.xa, vid_iv50.xa</CODE>.</LI>
</OL>

<P>XAnim is video codec family <CODE>xanim</CODE>, so you may want to use the <CODE>-vfm xanim</CODE>
  option to tell MPlayer to use them if possible.</P>

<P>Tested codecs include: <B>Indeo 3.2</B>, <B>4.1</B>, <B>5.0</B>, <B>CVID</B>,
  <B>3ivX</B>, <B>h263</B>.</P>


<H4><A NAME="vivo_video">2.2.1.4 VIVO video</A></H4>

<P>MPlayer can play Vivo (1.0 and 2.0) videos. The most suitable codec
  for 1.0 files is FFmpeg's H263 decoder, you can use it with the <CODE>-vc
  ffh263</CODE> option. For 2.0 files, use the Win32 DLL through the
  <CODE>-vc vivo</CODE> option. If you do not supply command line options
  MPlayer selects the best codec automatically.</P>


<H4><A NAME="mpeg">2.2.1.5 MPEG 1/2 video</A></H4>

<P>MPEG1 and MPEG2 are decoded by the multiplatform native <B>libmpeg2</B>
  library, whose source code is included in MPlayer. We handle buggy
  MPEG 1/2 video files by catching <CODE>Signal 11 (Segmentation fault)</CODE>,
  and quickly reinitializing the codec, continuing exactly from where the
  failure occurred. This recovery technique has no measurable speed penalty.</P>


<H4><A NAME="ms_video1">2.2.1.6 MS Video1</A></H4>

<P>This is a very old and very bad codec from Microsoft. In the past it was
  decoded with the <CODE>msvidc32.dll</CODE> Win32 codec, now we have our own
  open source implementation (by <A HREF="mailto:melanson@pcisys.net">Mike
  Melanson</A>).</P>


<H4><A NAME="cinepak">2.2.1.7 Cinepak CVID</A></H4>

<P>MPlayer uses its own open source, multiplatform Cinepak decoder (by
  <A HREF="mailto:timf@csse.monash.edu.au">Dr. Tim Ferguson</A>), by default.
  It supports YUV outputs, so that hardware scaling is possible if the video
  output driver permits it.</P>


<H4><A NAME="realvideo">2.2.1.8 RealVideo</A></H4>

MPlayer supports decoding all versions of RealVideo:

<UL>
  <LI>RealVideo 1.0 (fourcc RV10) - en/decoding supported by <B>libavcodec</B></LI>
  <LI>RealVideo 2.0, 3.0, 4.0 (fourcc RV20, RV30, RV40) - decoding supported by <B>RealPlayer libraries</B></LI>
</UL>

<P>It is recommended to download and install RealPlayer8 or RealONE, because
  MPlayer can use their libraries to decode files with RealVideo 2.0 -
  4.0 video. The MPlayer configure script should detect the
  RealPlayer libraries in the standard locations of a full installation. If it
  does not, tell configure where to look with the
  <CODE>--with-reallibdir</CODE> option.</P>

<P><B>Note:</B> RealPlayer libraries currently <B>only work with Linux, FreeBSD,
  NetBSD and Cygwin on the x86, Alpha and PowerPC (Linux/Alpha and Linux/PowerPC
  have been tested) platforms.</B></P>


<H4><A NAME="xvid">2.2.1.9 XviD</A></H4>

<P><A HREF="http://www.xvid.org/"><B>XviD</B></A> is a forked development of
  the OpenDivX codec. It happened when ProjectMayo changed OpenDivX to closed
  source DivX4 (now DivX5), and the non-ProjectMayo people working on OpenDivX
  got angry, then started XviD. So both projects have the same origin.</P>

<H4>ADVANTAGES</H4>

<UL>
  <LI>open source</LI>
  <LI>its API is compatible with DivX4 so adding support for it is easy</LI>
  <LI>2-pass encoding support</LI>
  <LI>nice encoding quality, higher speed than DivX4 (you can optimize it for
    your box while compiling)</LI>
</UL>

<H4>DISADVANTAGES</H4>

<UL>
  <LI>currently it does not properly <B>decode</B> all DivX/DivX4 files (no 
    problem as <A HREF="#libavcodec">libavcodec</A> can play them)</LI>
  <LI>you have to choose between DivX4 <B>or</B> XviD support at compiletime</LI>
  <LI>under development</LI>
</UL>

<H4>INSTALLING XVID CVS</H4>

<P>XviD is currently available only from CVS. Here are download and installation
  instructions (you need at least autoconf 2.50, automake and libtool):</P>

<OL>
  <LI><CODE>cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.xvid.org:/xvid login</CODE></LI>
  <LI><CODE>cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.xvid.org:/xvid co xvidcore</CODE></LI>
  <LI><CODE>cd xvidcore/build/generic</CODE></LI>
  <LI><CODE>./bootstrap.sh</CODE></LI>
  <LI><CODE>./configure</CODE><BR>
    You may have to add some options (examine the output of
    <CODE>./configure --help</CODE>).</LI>
  <LI><CODE>make &amp;&amp; make install</CODE></LI>
  <LI>If you specified <CODE>--enable-divxcompat</CODE>,
    copy the <CODE>divx4.h</CODE> header file from
    <CODE>xvidcore/src/</CODE> to <CODE>/usr/local/include/</CODE>.</LI>
  <LI>Recompile MPlayer with
    <CODE>--with-xvidcore=/path/to/libxvidcore.a</CODE>.</LI>
</OL>


<H4><A NAME="sorenson">2.2.1.10 Sorenson</A></H4>

<P><B>Sorenson</B> is a video codec family developed by Sorenson Media and
  licensed to Apple who distribute it with their QuickTime Player. We are
  currently able to decode all versions of Sorenson video files with the
  following decoders:</P>

<UL>
  <LI>Sorenson 1 (fourcc <I>SVQ1</I>) - decoding supported by <B>native
    codecs</B><BR>
    Actually there are two (nearly equal) decoders for SVQ1: one is built in
    MPlayer, the other is in libavcodec. You can invoke each of them with the
    <CODE>-vc svq1</CODE> and <CODE>-vc ffsvq1</CODE> options respectively.
    Some files may work with one of them, and not with the other, so test
    both decoders. The decoder was written (reverse engineered) by the
    <A HREF="http://www.xinehq.de">xine</A> authors.</LI>
  <LI>Sorenson 3 (fourcc <I>SVQ3</I>) - decoding supported by <B>Win32
    QuickTime libraries</B></LI>
</UL>

<H4>COMPILING MPLAYER WITH QUICKTIME LIBRARIES SUPPORT</H4>

<P><B>NOTE:</B> currently only 32bit Intel platforms are supported.</P>

<OL>
  <LI>download MPlayer CVS</LI>
  <LI>compile MPlayer with:<BR>
    <CODE>$ ./configure --enable-qtx-codecs</CODE></LI>
  <LI>download QuickTime DLL pack from
    <A HREF="http://www.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/codecs/">http://www.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/codecs/</A></LI>
  <LI>extract QuickTime DLL pack to your Win32 codecs directory (default:
    <CODE>/usr/lib/win32</CODE>)</LI>
</OL>


<H3><A NAME="audio_codecs">2.2.2 Audio codecs</A></H3>

<P>The most important audio codecs above all:<BR></P>

<UL>
  <LI>MPEG layer 2 (MP2), and layer 3 (MP3) audio (<B>native</B> code, with
    MMX/SSE/3DNow! optimization)</LI>
  <LI>MPEG layer 1 audio (<B>native</B> code, with libavcodec)</LI>
  <LI>Windows Media Audio v1, v2 (<B>native</B> code, with libavcodec)</LI>
  <LI>Windows Media Audio 9 (WMAv3) (using DMO DLL)</LI>
  <LI>AC3 Dolby audio (<B>native</B> code, with MMX/SSE/3DNow!
    optimization)</LI>
  <LI>AC3 passing through soundcard hardware</LI>
  <LI>Ogg Vorbis audio codec (<B>native</B> library)</LI>
  <LI>RealAudio: DNET (low bitrate AC3), Cook, Sipro and ATRAC3</LI>
  <LI>QuickTime: Qualcomm and QDesign audio codecs</LI>
  <LI>VIVO audio (g723, Vivo Siren)</LI>
  <LI>Voxware audio (using DirectShow DLL)</LI>
  <LI>alaw and ulaw, various gsm, adpcm and pcm formats and other simple old
    audio codecs</LI>
  <LI>AAC</LI>
</UL>


<H4><A NAME="software_ac3">2.2.2.1 Software AC3 decoding</A></H4>

<P>This is the default decoder used for files with AC3 audio.</P>

<P>The AC3 decoder can create audio output mixes for 2, 4, or 6 speakers. When
  configured for 6 speakers, this decoder provides separate output of all the
  AC3 channels to the sound driver, allowing for full "surround sound"
  experience without the external AC3 decoder required to use the hwac3
  codec.</P>

<P>Use the <CODE>-channels</CODE> option to select the number of output
  channels. Use <CODE>-channels 2</CODE> for a stereo downmix. For a 4
  channel downmix (Left Front, Right Front, Left Surround and Right Surround
  outputs), use <CODE>-channels 4</CODE>. In this case, any center channel will
  be mixed equally to the front channels. <CODE>-channels 6</CODE> will output
  all the AC3 channels as they are encoded - in the order Left, Right, Left
  Surround, Right Surround, Center and LFE.</P>

<P>The default number of output channels is 2.</P>

<P>To use more than 2 output channels, you will need to use OSS, and have a
  sound card that supports the appropriate number of output channels via the
  SNDCTL_DSP_CHANNELS ioctl. An example of a suitable driver is emu10k1 (used
  by Soundblaster Live! cards) from August 2001 or newer (ALSA CVS is also
  supposed to work).</P>


<H4><A NAME="hardware_ac3">2.2.2.2 Hardware AC3 decoding</A></H4>

<P>You need an AC3 capable sound card, with digital out (SP/DIF). The card's
  driver must properly support the AFMT_AC3 format (C-Media does). Connect
  your AC3 decoder to the SP/DIF output, and use the <CODE>-ac hwac3</CODE>
  option. It is experimental but known to work with C-Media cards,
  Soundblaster Live! using ALSA (but not OSS) drivers and DXR3/Hollywood+ MPEG
  decoder cards.</P>


<H4><A NAME="libmad">2.2.2.3 libmad support</A></H4>

<P><A HREF="http://mad.sourceforge.net">libmad</A> is a multiplatform MPEG
  audio decoding library. It does not handle broken files well, and it
  sometimes has problems with seeking.</P>

<P>To enable support, compile with the <CODE>--enable-mad</CODE> configure
  option.</P>


<H4><A NAME="vivo_audio">2.2.2.4 VIVO audio</A></H4>

<P>The audio codec used in VIVO files depends on whether it is a VIVO/1.0 or
  VIVO/2.0 file. VIVO/1.0 files have <B>g.723</B> audio, and VIVO/2.0 files
  have <B>Vivo Siren</B> audio. Both are supported.</P>

<H4><A NAME="realaudio">2.2.2.5 RealAudio</A></H4>

MPlayer supports decoding nearly all versions of RealAudio:

<UL>
  <LI>RealAudio DNET - decoding supported by <B>liba52</B></LI>
  <LI>RealAudio Cook/Sipro/ATRAC3 - decoding supported by <B>RealPlayer
    libraries</B></LI>
</UL>

<P>On how to install RealPlayer libraries, see the
  <A HREF="#realvideo">RealVideo</A> section.</P>


<H4><A NAME="qdesign">2.2.2.6 QDesign codecs</A></H4>

<P>QDesign audio streams (fourcc: <I>QDMC</I>, <I>QDM2</I>) are found in MOV/QT
  files. Both versions of this codec can be decoded with QuickTime libraries. 
  For installation instructions please see the <A HREF="#sorenson">Sorenson
  video codec</A> section.</P>


<H4><A NAME="qclp">2.2.2.7 Qualcomm codec</A></H4>

<P>Qualcomm audio stream (fourcc: <I>Qclp</I>) is found in MOV/QT files.
  It can be decoded with QuickTime libraries. For installation instructions
  please see the <A HREF="#sorenson">Sorenson video codec</A> section.</P>


<H4><A NAME="aac">2.2.2.8 AAC codec</A></H4>

<P>AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) is an audio codec sometimes found in MOV and MP4
  files. An open source decoder called FAAD is available from
  <A HREF="http://www.audiocoding.com/">AudioCoding.com</A>.
  You can download the second generation codec FAAD2 at their
  <A HREF="http://www.audiocoding.com/download.php">download page</A>.
  Unfortunately FAAD2 1.1 does not compile under Linux, so you will have to use
  the CVS version. Here's how:</P>

<OL>
  <LI>cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.audiocoding.com:/cvsroot/faac login</LI>
  <LI>cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.audiocoding.com:/cvsroot/faac co faad2</LI>
  <LI>cd faad2/</LI>
  <LI>chmod +x bootstrap</LI>
  <LI>./bootstrap</LI>
  <LI>./configure</LI>
  <LI>make</LI>
  <LI>make install</LI>
</OL>

<P>Binaries are not available from audiocoding.com, but you can (apt-)get
  Debian packages from
  <A HREF="http://marillat.free.fr/">Christian Marillat's homepage</A>
  and Mandrake RPMs from the
  <A HREF="http://plf.zarb.org/">P.L.F</A>.</P>



<H3><A NAME="importing">2.2.3 Win32 codec importing HOWTO</A></H3>


<H4><A NAME="importing_vfw">2.2.3.1 VFW codecs</A></H4>

<P>VFW (Video for Windows) is the old Video API for Windows. Its codecs have
  the .DLL or (rarely) .DRV extension.
  If MPlayer fails at playing your AVI with this kind of message:</P>

<P>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<CODE>UNKNOWN video codec: HFYU (0x55594648)</CODE></P>

<P>It means your AVI is encoded with a codec which has the HFYU fourcc (HFYU =
  HuffYUV codec, DIV3 = DivX Low Motion, etc...). Now that you know this, you
  have to find out which DLL Windows loads in order to play this file. In our
  case, the <CODE>system.ini</CODE> contains this information in a line that
  reads:</P>

<P>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<CODE>VIDC.HFYU=huffyuv.dll</CODE></P>

<P>So you need the <CODE>huffyuv.dll</CODE> file. Note that the audio codecs are
  specified by the MSACM prefix:</P>

<P>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<CODE>msacm.l3acm=L3codeca.acm</CODE></P>


<P>This is the MP3 codec. Now that you have all the necessary information
  (fourcc, codec file, sample AVI), submit your codec support request by mail,
  and upload these files to the FTP site:</P>

<P>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<CODE>ftp://ftp.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/incoming/[codecname]/</CODE></P>

<P><B>Note:</B> On Windows NT/2000/XP search for this info in the registry, e.g. search for
  "VIDC.HFYU". To find out how to do this, look at the old DirectShow method below.</P>

<H4><A NAME="importing_directshow">2.2.3.2 DirectShow codecs</A></H4>

<P>DirectShow is the newer Video API, which is even worse than its predecessor.
  Things are harder with DirectShow, since</P>

<UL>
  <LI><CODE>system.ini</CODE> does not contain the needed information, instead it
    is stored in the registry and</LI>
  <LI>we need the GUID of the codec.</LI>
</UL>

<P><B>New Method:</B> Using Microsoft GraphEdit (fast)</P>

<OL>
  <LI>Get GraphEdit from either DirectX SDK or
    <A HREF="http://doom9.org">Doom9</A>.</LI>
  <LI>Start <CODE>graphedit.exe</CODE>.</LI>
  <LI>From the menu select Graph -&gt; Insert Filters.</LI>
  <LI>Expand item <CODE>DirectShow Filters</CODE>.</LI>
  <LI>Select the right codec name and expand item.</LI>
  <LI>In the entry <CODE>DisplayName</CODE> look at the text in winged brackets
    after the backslash and write it down (five dash-delimited blocks, the
    GUID).</LI>
  <LI>The codec binary is the file specified in the <CODE>Filename</CODE>
    entry.</LI>
</OL>

<P><B>Note:</B> If there is no <CODE>Filename</CODE> entry and <CODE>DisplayName</CODE>
  contains something like <CODE>device:dmo</CODE>, then it is a DMO-Codec.</P>

<P><B>Old Method:</B> Take a deep breath and start searching the registry...</P>

<OL>
  <LI>Start <CODE>regedit</CODE>.</LI>
  <LI>Press <CODE>Ctrl-f</CODE>, disable the first two checkboxes, and enable
    the third. Type in the fourcc of the codec (e.g. TM20).</LI>
  <LI>You should see a field which contains the path and the filename
    (e.g. <CODE>C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\TM20DEC.AX</CODE>).</LI>
  <LI>Now that you have the file, we need the GUID. Try searching again, but
    now search for the codec's name, not the fourcc. Its name can be acquired
    when Media Player is playing the file, by checking File -&gt; Properties
    -&gt; Advanced.
    If not, you are out of luck. Try guessing (e.g. search for TrueMotion).</LI>
  <LI>If the GUID is found you should see a FriendlyName and a CLSID
    field. Write down the 16 byte CLSID, this is the GUID we need.</LI>
</OL>

<P><B>Note:</B> If searching fails, try enabling all the checkboxes. You may have
  false hits, but you may get lucky...</P>

<P>Now that you have all the necessary information (fourcc, GUID, codec file,
  sample AVI), submit your codec support request by mail, and upload these files
  to the FTP site:</P>

<P>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<CODE>ftp://ftp.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/incoming/[codecname]/</CODE></P>

</BODY>
</HTML>