DivX
Encyclopedia
DivX is a brand name of products created by DivX, Inc.
(formerly DivXNetworks, Inc.), including the DivX Codec which has become popular due to its ability to compress lengthy video segments into small sizes while maintaining relatively high visual quality.
There are two DivX codec
s; the regular MPEG-4 Part 2
DivX codec and the H.264/MPEG-4 AVC
DivX Plus HD codec. It is one of several codecs commonly associated with "ripping
", whereby audio and video
multimedia are transferred to a hard disk
and transcoded.
in the early "" codec name was a tongue-in-cheek
reference to the DIVX system. Although not created by them, the DivX company adopted the name of the popular codec. The company dropped the smiley
and released DivX 4.0, which was actually the first DivX version, trademark
ing the word, DivX.
(not DivX) 3.11 Alpha and later 3.xx versions refers to a hacked version of the Microsoft
MPEG-4 Version 3 video codec (not to be mistaken with MPEG-4 Part 3) from Windows Media Tools 4 codecs. The video codec, which was actually not MPEG-4 compliant, was extracted around 1998 by French hacker Jerome Rota
(also known as Gej) at Montpellier. The Microsoft codec originally required that the compressed output be put in an ASF
file. It was altered to allow other containers such as Audio Video Interleave
(AVI). Rota hacked the Microsoft codec because newer versions of the Windows Media Player wouldn't play his video portfolio and résumé that were encoded with it. Instead of re-encoding his portfolio, Rota and German hacker Max Morice decided to reverse engineer
the codec, which "took about a week".
In early 2000, Jordan Greenhall recruited Rota to form a company (originally called DivXNetworks, Inc., renamed to DivX, Inc. in 2005) to develop an MPEG-4 codec, from scratch, that would still be backward-compatible with the Microsoft MPEG-4 Version 3 format. This effort resulted first in the release of the "OpenDivX" codec and source code on 15 January 2001. OpenDivX was hosted as an open-source project on the Project Mayo web site hosted at projectmayo.com (the name comes from "mayonnaise
", because, according to Rota, DivX and mayonnaise are both "French and very hard to make."). The company's internal developers and some external developers worked jointly on OpenDivX for the next several months, but the project eventually stagnated.
In early 2001, DivX employee "Sparky" wrote a new and improved version of the codec's encoding algorithm known as "encore2". This code was included in the OpenDivX public source repository for a brief time, but then was abruptly removed. The explanation from DivX at the time was that "the community really wants a Winamp, not a Linux." It was at this point that the project forked. That summer, Rota left the French Riviera and moved to San Diego "with nothing but a pack of cigarettes" where he and Greenhall founded what would eventually become DivX, Inc.
DivX took the encore2 code and developed it into DivX 4.0, initially released in July 2001. Other developers who had participated in OpenDivX took encore2 and started a new project—Xvid
—that started with the same encoding core. DivX, Inc. has since continued to develop the DivX codec, releasing DivX 5.0 in March 2002. By the release of version 5.2.1 on 8 September 2004, the DivX codec was substantially feature-complete. Changes since then have tended to focus on speed, and encouraging wider hardware player support, while the company has also focused its time on the formats and next generation codecs.
As of February 2011, the DivX brand has been owned by Rovi Corporation, upon completion of its acquisition of Sonic Solutions
.
and VOB
container like features. This media container format is used for the MPEG-4 Part 2
codec.
This new "DivX Media Format" also came with a "DivX Ultra Certified" profile, and all "Ultra" certified players must support all "DivX Media Format" features. While video encoded with the DivX codec is an MPEG-4 video stream, the DivX Media Format is analogous to media container formats such as Apple's QuickTime. In much the same way that media formats such as DVD specify MPEG-2 video as a part of their specification, the DivX Media Format specifies MPEG-4-compatible video as a part of its specification. However, despite the use of the ".divx" extension, this format is an extension to the AVI file format. The methods of including multiple audio and even subtitle tracks involve storing the data in RIFF headers and other such AVI hacks which have been known for quite a while, such that even VirtualDubMod
supports them. DivX, Inc. did this on purpose to keep at least partial backwards compatibility with AVI, so that players that do not support the new features available to the .divx container format (like interactive menus, chapter points and XSUB subtitles) can at least play that primary video stream (usually the main movie if the DMF file contains multiple video streams like special features like bonus materials). Of course, the DivX codec and tools like Dr. DivX still support the traditional method of creating standard AVI files.
media container format (.mkv), rather than the proprietary DivX Media Format. DivX Plus HD files contain an H.264
video bitstream, AAC
surround sound audio, and a number of XML-based attachments defining chapters, subtitles and meta data. This media container format is used for the H.264/MPEG-4 AVC
codec.
, which allows content owners to control distribution in an effort to thwart piracy. DivX, Inc. has received format approval from major Hollywood studios including Sony, Paramount and Lionsgate, which has allowed content retailers to sell protected videos that will play on current and previous generations of DivX certified devices.
DivX Plus for Windows is a successor of DivX suite of software. The latest version of this suite, DivX 7, was released 6 January 2009, which added H.264 video, AAC audio and Matroska container support.
DivX Plus Player also features DivX to Go as an additional panel on the right side of the interface with four buttons targeting consumer electronic devices. When a user drags a video file onto one of the icons, a transfer wizard is invoked, which walks the user through the steps needed to convert and transfer a video file that's compatible with their DivX Certified device, via USB or optical disc.
DivX Plus Player also features a media library as well as a set of Digital Rights Management
features that help authorize purchased commercial contents for the consumer's computer and his DivX Certified devices.
DivX Plus Player supports the following media formats:
Legend
DivX Plus Converter can convert AVI
files (.avi), MP4 files (.mp4), QuickTime Video files (.mov), Windows Media Video
files (.wmv), AVCHD
video files (.mts and .m2ts
) and RMVB
files (.rmvb) to DivX Plus HD format (.mkv files). When a DivX Pro license is purchased, it can also convert video files to DivX Media Format (.divx files). In addition with the purchase of an "MPEG-2/DVD Plug-in", the input support range of DivX Plus Converter will be extended to support MPEG video, MPEG-2
video, DVD Video and Video CD
.
, Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox
and Safari
. It also supports multiple audio tracks and muxed UTF-8 subtitles and is able to save video files locally upon completing of full-length buffer.
On September 2, 2010, a public beta of the Web Player, called DivX HiQ, introduced the following features in the DivX Plus Web Player for Windows:
On February 10, 2011, The DivX HiQ Beta experiment is over, and will be uninstalled from any computer system in the latest release of the DivX Plus Web Player.
DivX certified devices have included DVD players, car stereos, mobile phones, televisions, blu-ray players, and even alarm clocks.
Aside from verifying proper decoding of files conforming to the DivX profiles the certification also confirms the device can play back DivX Video on Demand content, which includes Hollywood content that can be purchased from Internet retailers.
, allowing it to play video encoded with DivX and other MPEG-4 ASP codecs.
On 17 December 2007, firmware upgrade 2.10 was released for the Sony PlayStation 3
, which included official DivX Certification. Firmware version 2.50 (released on 15 October 2008) included support for the DivX Video on Demand (DivX VOD) service, and firmware version 2.60 (released on 20 January 2009) included official DivX Certification and updated Profile support to version 3.11.
With introduction of DivX to Go in the DivX Plus Player for Windows, a PlayStation 3 icon is readily available on the interface, which will invoke a transfer wizard for freely converting and copying video files via USB or optical disc. The output from DivX to Go's PlayStation 3 preset is also playable on the Xbox 360.
codec (an implementation of VC-1
used on Blu-ray Disc
s) as well as Windows Media Player
, a video player
and Microsoft Expression Encoder
, a video converter. Google Inc. develops WebM
, a royalty-free video file format chiefly used for online video. Apple Inc. also develops QuickTime
, a suite of software that can encode, decode and play digital video (including H.264–compliant video).
Additionally, all software products that create (encode) MPEG-4
–compatible digital video also compete with DivX. One of these products that can produce MPEG-4–compliant digital video is Xvid
, a free and open source codec that offers comparable quality. Both DivX Codec and Xvid are compliant with MPEG-4 Part 2 (MPEG-4 ASP); however, the most commonly used DivX encoding profile (Home Theater) does not employ the same MPEG-4 ASP features enabled in the most commonly used Xvid encoding profile (home). In a series of subjective quality tests at Doom9.org between 2003 and 2005, the DivX encoder was beaten by the Xvid encoder every year. Similar tests were not undertaken for newer versions.
Another notable codec is libavcodec
, a free software
library that can create and play digital video formats that comply with MPEG-4 Part 2 and MPEG-4 Part 10. This library is now part of ffdshow
, which can be used for playback with most Windows video players and video converters.
DivX, Inc.
DivX, Inc. , based in San Diego, California, now part of Sonic Solutions, a division of Rovi, was the corporation behind the MPEG-4 Part 2-based codec, DivX. The company's codec has been downloaded over 240 million times since January 2003...
(formerly DivXNetworks, Inc.), including the DivX Codec which has become popular due to its ability to compress lengthy video segments into small sizes while maintaining relatively high visual quality.
There are two DivX codec
Codec
A codec is a device or computer program capable of encoding or decoding a digital data stream or signal. The word codec is a portmanteau of "compressor-decompressor" or, more commonly, "coder-decoder"...
s; the regular MPEG-4 Part 2
MPEG-4 Part 2
MPEG-4 Part 2, MPEG-4 Visual is a video compression technology developed by MPEG. It belongs to the MPEG-4 ISO/IEC standards. It is a discrete cosine transform compression standard, similar to previous standards such as MPEG-1 and MPEG-2...
DivX codec and the H.264/MPEG-4 AVC
H.264/MPEG-4 AVC
H.264/MPEG-4 Part 10 or AVC is a standard for video compression, and is currently one of the most commonly used formats for the recording, compression, and distribution of high definition video...
DivX Plus HD codec. It is one of several codecs commonly associated with "ripping
Ripping
Ripping is the process of copying audio or video content to a hard disk, typically from removable media. The word is used to refer to all forms of media. Despite the name, neither the media nor the data is damaged after extraction....
", whereby audio and video
Video
Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...
multimedia are transferred to a hard disk
Hard disk
A hard disk drive is a non-volatile, random access digital magnetic data storage device. It features rotating rigid platters on a motor-driven spindle within a protective enclosure. Data is magnetically read from and written to the platter by read/write heads that float on a film of air above the...
and transcoded.
History
The "DivX" brand is distinct from "DIVX", a former video rental system developed by Circuit City Stores which required special discs and players to function. The winking emoticonEmoticon
An emoticon is a facial expression pictorially represented by punctuation and letters, usually to express a writer’s mood. Emoticons are often used to alert a responder to the tenor or temper of a statement, and can change and improve interpretation of plain text. The word is a portmanteau word...
in the early "" codec name was a tongue-in-cheek
Tongue-in-cheek
Tongue-in-cheek is a phrase used as a figure of speech to imply that a statement or other production is humorously intended and it should not be taken at face value. The facial expression typically indicates that one is joking or making a mental effort. In the past, it may also have indicated...
reference to the DIVX system. Although not created by them, the DivX company adopted the name of the popular codec. The company dropped the smiley
Smiley
A smiley, smiley face, or happy face, is a stylized representation of a smiling human face, commonly occurring in popular culture. It is commonly represented as a yellow circle with two black dots representing eyes and a black arc representing the mouth...
and released DivX 4.0, which was actually the first DivX version, trademark
Trademark
A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...
ing the word, DivX.
(not DivX) 3.11 Alpha and later 3.xx versions refers to a hacked version of the Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
MPEG-4 Version 3 video codec (not to be mistaken with MPEG-4 Part 3) from Windows Media Tools 4 codecs. The video codec, which was actually not MPEG-4 compliant, was extracted around 1998 by French hacker Jerome Rota
Jerome Rota
Jerome Rota is a French software developer born in Montpellier, France. He also known by the name Gej.In 1999, while he was working as a graphic designer and a technical director in an advertising agency in France, he made the "DivX ;-)" 3.11 Alpha video codec by hacking the Microsoft...
(also known as Gej) at Montpellier. The Microsoft codec originally required that the compressed output be put in an ASF
Advanced Systems Format
Advanced Systems Format is Microsoft's proprietary digital audio/digital video container format, especially meant for streaming media...
file. It was altered to allow other containers such as Audio Video Interleave
Audio Video Interleave
Audio Video Interleave , known by its acronym AVI, is a multimedia container format introduced by Microsoft in November 1992 as part of its Video for Windows technology. AVI files can contain both audio and video data in a file container that allows synchronous audio-with-video playback...
(AVI). Rota hacked the Microsoft codec because newer versions of the Windows Media Player wouldn't play his video portfolio and résumé that were encoded with it. Instead of re-encoding his portfolio, Rota and German hacker Max Morice decided to reverse engineer
Reverse engineering
Reverse engineering is the process of discovering the technological principles of a device, object, or system through analysis of its structure, function, and operation...
the codec, which "took about a week".
In early 2000, Jordan Greenhall recruited Rota to form a company (originally called DivXNetworks, Inc., renamed to DivX, Inc. in 2005) to develop an MPEG-4 codec, from scratch, that would still be backward-compatible with the Microsoft MPEG-4 Version 3 format. This effort resulted first in the release of the "OpenDivX" codec and source code on 15 January 2001. OpenDivX was hosted as an open-source project on the Project Mayo web site hosted at projectmayo.com (the name comes from "mayonnaise
Mayonnaise
Mayonnaise, , often abbreviated as mayo, is a sauce. It is a stable emulsion of oil, egg yolk and either vinegar or lemon juice, with many options for embellishment with other herbs and spices. Lecithin in the egg yolk is the emulsifier. Mayonnaise varies in color but is often white, cream, or pale...
", because, according to Rota, DivX and mayonnaise are both "French and very hard to make."). The company's internal developers and some external developers worked jointly on OpenDivX for the next several months, but the project eventually stagnated.
In early 2001, DivX employee "Sparky" wrote a new and improved version of the codec's encoding algorithm known as "encore2". This code was included in the OpenDivX public source repository for a brief time, but then was abruptly removed. The explanation from DivX at the time was that "the community really wants a Winamp, not a Linux." It was at this point that the project forked. That summer, Rota left the French Riviera and moved to San Diego "with nothing but a pack of cigarettes" where he and Greenhall founded what would eventually become DivX, Inc.
DivX took the encore2 code and developed it into DivX 4.0, initially released in July 2001. Other developers who had participated in OpenDivX took encore2 and started a new project—Xvid
XviD
Xvid is a video codec library following the MPEG-4 standard, specifically MPEG-4 Part 2 Advanced Simple Profile . It uses ASP features such as b-frames, global and quarter pixel motion compensation, lumi masking, trellis quantization, and H.263, MPEG and custom quantization matrices.Xvid is a...
—that started with the same encoding core. DivX, Inc. has since continued to develop the DivX codec, releasing DivX 5.0 in March 2002. By the release of version 5.2.1 on 8 September 2004, the DivX codec was substantially feature-complete. Changes since then have tended to focus on speed, and encouraging wider hardware player support, while the company has also focused its time on the formats and next generation codecs.
As of February 2011, the DivX brand has been owned by Rovi Corporation, upon completion of its acquisition of Sonic Solutions
Sonic Solutions
Sonic Solutions, acquired by Rovi Corporation in 2010, was a computer software company headquartered in Novato, California. In addition to having a number of offices in the U.S., the company also maintained offices in Europe and Asia.-History:...
.
DivX Media Format (DMF)
DivX 6 expanded the scope of DivX from including just a codec and a player by adding an optional media container format called "DivX Media Format" ("DMF") (with a .divx extension) that includes support for the following DVD-VideoDVD-Video
DVD-Video is a consumer video format used to store digital video on DVD discs, and is currently the dominant consumer video format in Asia, North America, Europe, and Australia. Discs using the DVD-Video specification require a DVD drive and a MPEG-2 decoder...
and VOB
VOB
A VOB file is a container format in DVD-Video media. VOB can contain video, audio, subtitle, menu and navigation contents multiplexed together into a stream form. VOB is based on the MPEG program stream format, but with additional limitations and specifications in the private streams...
container like features. This media container format is used for the MPEG-4 Part 2
MPEG-4 Part 2
MPEG-4 Part 2, MPEG-4 Visual is a video compression technology developed by MPEG. It belongs to the MPEG-4 ISO/IEC standards. It is a discrete cosine transform compression standard, similar to previous standards such as MPEG-1 and MPEG-2...
codec.
- DivX Media Format (DMF) features:
- Interactive video menus
- Multiple subtitles (XSUB)
- Multiple audio tracks
- Multiple video streams (for special features like bonus/extra content, just like on DVD-Video movies)
- Chapter points
- Other metadata (XTAG)
- Multiple format
- Partial backwards compatibility with AVI
This new "DivX Media Format" also came with a "DivX Ultra Certified" profile, and all "Ultra" certified players must support all "DivX Media Format" features. While video encoded with the DivX codec is an MPEG-4 video stream, the DivX Media Format is analogous to media container formats such as Apple's QuickTime. In much the same way that media formats such as DVD specify MPEG-2 video as a part of their specification, the DivX Media Format specifies MPEG-4-compatible video as a part of its specification. However, despite the use of the ".divx" extension, this format is an extension to the AVI file format. The methods of including multiple audio and even subtitle tracks involve storing the data in RIFF headers and other such AVI hacks which have been known for quite a while, such that even VirtualDubMod
VirtualDubMod
VirtualDubMod is an open source video capture and linear processing tool for Microsoft Windows. It is based on Avery Lee's VirtualDub, and is licensed under the GPL. VirtualDubMod is hosted on SourceForge and is at version 1.5.10.2 ....
supports them. DivX, Inc. did this on purpose to keep at least partial backwards compatibility with AVI, so that players that do not support the new features available to the .divx container format (like interactive menus, chapter points and XSUB subtitles) can at least play that primary video stream (usually the main movie if the DMF file contains multiple video streams like special features like bonus materials). Of course, the DivX codec and tools like Dr. DivX still support the traditional method of creating standard AVI files.
DivX Plus HD
DivX Plus HD is a marketing name for a file type using the standard MatroskaMatroska
The Matroska Multimedia Container is an open standard free container format, a file format that can hold an unlimited number of video, audio, picture or subtitle tracks in one file. It is intended to serve as a universal format for storing common multimedia content, like movies or TV shows...
media container format (.mkv), rather than the proprietary DivX Media Format. DivX Plus HD files contain an H.264
H.264/MPEG-4 AVC
H.264/MPEG-4 Part 10 or AVC is a standard for video compression, and is currently one of the most commonly used formats for the recording, compression, and distribution of high definition video...
video bitstream, AAC
Advanced Audio Coding
Advanced Audio Coding is a standardized, lossy compression and encoding scheme for digital audio. Designed to be the successor of the MP3 format, AAC generally achieves better sound quality than MP3 at similar bit rates....
surround sound audio, and a number of XML-based attachments defining chapters, subtitles and meta data. This media container format is used for the H.264/MPEG-4 AVC
H.264/MPEG-4 AVC
H.264/MPEG-4 Part 10 or AVC is a standard for video compression, and is currently one of the most commonly used formats for the recording, compression, and distribution of high definition video...
codec.
DivX profiles
DivX has defined profiles which are subsets of MPEG-4/AVI and H.264/Matroska standards. Because the grouping is a specific subset of what is in the standards, there are certification processes for each of the profiles that device manufacturers must follow. Hence all DivX certified devices bearing a DivX logo will adhere to one of the profiles outlined in the table below as would any tools that support the DivX profiles.| Handheld | Portable | Mobile Theater | Home Theater | HD 720p | HD 1080p | +HD 1080p | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DivX Codec (MPEG-4 Part 2) | 5,6 | 5,6 | 5,6 | 3,4,5,6 | 5,6 | 3,4,5,6 | n/a |
| DivX H.264 Codec (MPEG-4 Part 10) | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 1.x |
| File Extension(s) | .avi, .divx | .avi, .divx | .avi, .divx | .avi, .divx | .avi, .divx | .avi, .divx | .mkv |
| Max. resolution (px×px×Hz) | 176x144×15 | 352x240×30 352x288x25 |
640x480×30 | 720×480×30 720×576×25 |
1280×720×30 | 3/4: 720×480×30, 720×576×25 5/6: 1920×1080×30, 1280×720×60 |
1920×1080×30, 1280×720×60 |
| Max VBV bitrate (bit/s) | 600000 | 4854000 | 4854000 | 9708400 | 20000000 | VCL: 20000000, NAL: 24000000 |
|
| Min. VBV buffer size (KiB Kibibyte The kibibyte is a multiple of the unit byte for quantities of digital information. The binary prefix kibi means 1024; therefore, 1 kibibyte is . The unit symbol for the kibibyte is KiB. The unit was established by the International Electrotechnical Commission in 1999 and has been accepted for use... ) |
32 | 138 | 384 | 384 | 768 | 2097 | VCL: 3200, NAL: 3840 |
| Macroblocks (per second) | 1485 | 9900 | 40500 | 40500 | 108000 | 3/4: 40500 5/6: 244800 |
244800 |
| Subtitles | optional | optional | optional | 8×XSUB | 8×XSUB | 8×XSUB,XSUB+ | 8×SRT,SSA |
| Audio | 1×MP3 | 1×MP3 | 8×MP3,MP2,AC3 | 8×MP3,AC3 | 8×MP3,MP2,AC3 | 8×MP3,AC3,AAC |
DivX Video on Demand
DivX Video on Demand (DivX VOD) is DivX's version of digital rights management (DRM)Digital rights management
Digital rights management is a class of access control technologies that are used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals with the intent to limit the use of digital content and devices after sale. DRM is any technology that inhibits uses of digital content that...
, which allows content owners to control distribution in an effort to thwart piracy. DivX, Inc. has received format approval from major Hollywood studios including Sony, Paramount and Lionsgate, which has allowed content retailers to sell protected videos that will play on current and previous generations of DivX certified devices.
DivX Plus for Windows
DivX Plus for Windows is a suite of software for Microsoft Windows that contains the DivX Codec, a standalone media player, a video converter and media player Plug-in for web browsers. It was released on 16 March 2010.DivX Plus for Windows is a successor of DivX suite of software. The latest version of this suite, DivX 7, was released 6 January 2009, which added H.264 video, AAC audio and Matroska container support.
DivX Plus Player
DivX Plus Player (version 8) is a standalone media player. This player is a successor to DivX Player (versions 6 and 7) and Playa (version 5), made by the Project Mayo team that later became DivX, Inc.DivX Plus Player also features DivX to Go as an additional panel on the right side of the interface with four buttons targeting consumer electronic devices. When a user drags a video file onto one of the icons, a transfer wizard is invoked, which walks the user through the steps needed to convert and transfer a video file that's compatible with their DivX Certified device, via USB or optical disc.
DivX Plus Player also features a media library as well as a set of Digital Rights Management
Digital rights management
Digital rights management is a class of access control technologies that are used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals with the intent to limit the use of digital content and devices after sale. DRM is any technology that inhibits uses of digital content that...
features that help authorize purchased commercial contents for the consumer's computer and his DivX Certified devices.
Supported formats
DivX Plus Player supports the following media formats:
| File formats | Video compression algorithms | Audio compression algorithms | |
|---|---|---|---|
| — Native support — | |||
| — Extended support — | |||
Legend
DivX Plus Converter
The DivX Plus Converter (version 8) introduced a dramatically changed interface from its predecessor. The former had a small round interface that allowed for little more than selecting the type of output and displayed the number of videos in the queue. The DivX Plus Converter interface contains a large window that exposes each video that has been added in a row with drop-down options for quality, size, audio, subtitles and more. Another notable change is while both the previous and DivX Plus versions have 15-day trials, the DivX Plus Converter still allows users to create DivX Plus HD files for free after the trial is complete.DivX Plus Converter can convert AVI
Audio Video Interleave
Audio Video Interleave , known by its acronym AVI, is a multimedia container format introduced by Microsoft in November 1992 as part of its Video for Windows technology. AVI files can contain both audio and video data in a file container that allows synchronous audio-with-video playback...
files (.avi), MP4 files (.mp4), QuickTime Video files (.mov), Windows Media Video
Windows Media Video
'Windows Media Video is a video compression format for several proprietary codecs developed by Microsoft. The original video format, known as WMV, was originally designed for Internet streaming applications, as a competitor to RealVideo. The other formats, such as WMV Screen and WMV Image, cater...
files (.wmv), AVCHD
AVCHD
AVCHD is a file-based format for the digital recording and playback of high-definition video....
video files (.mts and .m2ts
.m2ts
M2TS is a filename extension used for the Blu-ray Disc Audio-Video MPEG-2 Transport Stream container file format. It is used for multiplexing audio, video and other streams. It is based on the MPEG-2 transport stream container...
) and RMVB
RMVB
RealMedia Variable Bitrate is a variable bitrate extension of the RealMedia multimedia container format developed by RealNetworks....
files (.rmvb) to DivX Plus HD format (.mkv files). When a DivX Pro license is purchased, it can also convert video files to DivX Media Format (.divx files). In addition with the purchase of an "MPEG-2/DVD Plug-in", the input support range of DivX Plus Converter will be extended to support MPEG video, MPEG-2
MPEG-2
MPEG-2 is a standard for "the generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information". It describes a combination of lossy video compression and lossy audio data compression methods which permit storage and transmission of movies using currently available storage media and transmission...
video, DVD Video and Video CD
Video CD
Before the advent of DVD and Blu-ray, the Video CD became the first format for distributing films on standard 120 mm optical discs. The format is a standard digital format for storing video on a Compact Disc...
.
DivX Plus Codec Pack
The DivX Plus Codec Pack is an upgrade to the former DivX Community Codec, which enables system-wide playback of MPEG-4 ASP and H.264 video (DivX Plus files). This pack includes a free H.264 decoder with optional DXVA hardware acceleration that can be activated in the control panel.DivX Plus Web Player
DivX Plus Web Player (formerly known as DivX Web Player and DivX Browser Plug-In) is a web browser plug-in for playing embedded video on web pages. Web Player supports playing DivX (.divx), AVI (.avi), Matroska (.mkv), MP4 (.mp4) and QuickTime (.mov) video formats on Google ChromeGoogle Chrome
Google Chrome is a web browser developed by Google that uses the WebKit layout engine. It was first released as a beta version for Microsoft Windows on September 2, 2008, and the public stable release was on December 11, 2008. The name is derived from the graphical user interface frame, or...
, Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla Firefox is a free and open source web browser descended from the Mozilla Application Suite and managed by Mozilla Corporation. , Firefox is the second most widely used browser, with approximately 25% of worldwide usage share of web browsers...
and Safari
Safari (web browser)
Safari is a web browser developed by Apple Inc. and included with the Mac OS X and iOS operating systems. First released as a public beta on January 7, 2003 on the company's Mac OS X operating system, it became Apple's default browser beginning with Mac OS X v10.3 "Panther". Safari is also the...
. It also supports multiple audio tracks and muxed UTF-8 subtitles and is able to save video files locally upon completing of full-length buffer.
On September 2, 2010, a public beta of the Web Player, called DivX HiQ, introduced the following features in the DivX Plus Web Player for Windows:
- Support for replacing the playing embedded web video with DivX HiQ instead of the Adobe Flash PlayerAdobe Flash PlayerThe Adobe Flash Player is software for viewing multimedia, Rich Internet Applications and streaming video and audio, on a computer web browser or on supported mobile devices. Flash Player runs SWF files that can be created by the Adobe Flash authoring tool, by Adobe Flex or by a number of other...
on video portals like YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
and DailyMotionDailymotionDailymotion is a video sharing service website, headquartered in the 18th arrondissement, Paris, France. According to Comscore, Dailymotion is the second largest video site in the world after YouTube.... - Support for H.264 video in MP4 or QuickTime Video files
- A plug-in that parses HTML5 HTML5 videoHTML5 video is an element introduced in the HTML5 draft specification for the purpose of playing videos or movies, partially replacing the object element...
for the web browser, thus enabling it to play .divx, .avi, .mkv, .mp4 or .mov video embedded in this manner with DivX Web Player - Hardware accelerated video decoding of H.264 bitstreams
On February 10, 2011, The DivX HiQ Beta experiment is over, and will be uninstalled from any computer system in the latest release of the DivX Plus Web Player.
DivX Player for Mac
DivX Player for Mac, first introduced with DivX 6.5 on the 25 May 2006, is a standalone player that plays DivX encoded files and DivX Media Format features such as subtitles, multiple audio tracks, and DivX VOD content. The DivX Player for Mac also can play DivX Plus HD compatible files — namely .mkv files encoded with H.264 video and AAC audio. Unlike the DivX 7 and DivX Plus (version 8) Windows counterparts, DivX Player for Mac does not include a burn engine or a utility for moving videos to USB.Features
- Bundled playback of MPEG-4 ASP video with MP3 audio (.divx/.avi) and DivX Plus files (Matroska with H.264 video and AAC audio)
- Mouse gestureMouse gestureIn computing, a pointing device gesture or mouse gesture is a way of combining pointing device movements and clicks which the software recognizes as a specific command. Pointing device gestures can provide quick access to common functions of a program. They can also be useful for people who have...
s to control video - Media manager via a video library window
- Play any QuickTimeQuickTimeQuickTime is an extensible proprietary multimedia framework developed by Apple Inc., capable of handling various formats of digital video, picture, sound, panoramic images, and interactivity. The classic version of QuickTime is available for Windows XP and later, as well as Mac OS X Leopard and...
supported file - Play video as desktop background
- Manage certified DivX devices to enable playback of purchased/protected content
- Playback of purchased/protected video content
DivX Converter for Mac
DivX Converter for Mac has remained virtually unchanged since DivX 6 for Mac, which is most apparent in its small and round interface and lack of ability to generate DivX Plus HD files.DivX Plus Web Player for Mac
As of DivX Plus Web Player version 2.0.2, DivX Plus Web Player for Mac has feature parity with the DivX Plus Web Player for Windows.DivX Author
DivX Author is a licensed version of Pegasys TMPGEnc DVD Author 3 with DivX Authoring without the DVD output capability. DVD Author 3 is already superseded by TMPGEnc Authoring Works 4 and Pegasys has ceased development since 2008. Even though it's obsolete, DivX is still selling it on their web site.Dr. DivX OSS
Dr. DivX is an application created by DivX, Inc. that is capable of transcoding many video formats to DivX encoded video. The original closed source Dr. DivX terminated at version 1.06 for DivX 5.21, that was the last version of DivX capable of running under Windows 9x/Me. An open source version has been made, which supports DivX 6. Dr. DivX offers greatly expanded features over the free DivX Converter application, that was bundled with the codec from version 6 onwards. Dr. Divx is not compatible with DivX Plus HD.DivX H.264 encoder
DivX has released a command line interface (CLI) for the divx264 encoder used in the DivX Plus Converter as beta, free for non-commercial use.DivX AAC encoder
To complement the CLI divx264 encoder released on DivX Labs, DivX has also released a DivX AAC encoder CLI as a Windows beta binary.DivX MKV Mux
The DivXMKVMux is a free Windows CLI available through DivX Labs with documentation on the DivX Developer Portal; DivX describes the release as a reference mux to demonstrate DivX Plus MKV extensions like World Fonts and Smooth FF/RW.Hardware support
DivX, Inc. markets a certification program to consumer electronics and IC manufacturers for the purpose of guaranteed compatibility and playback of video files that fall within DivX profiles. Devices that have been DivX certified usually brandish one of the following marks:- DivX Certified
- DivX Certified for HD 720p and 1080p
- DivX Certified for DivX Plus HD
- DivX Connected
- DivX Certified for DivX Ultra
DivX certified devices have included DVD players, car stereos, mobile phones, televisions, blu-ray players, and even alarm clocks.
Aside from verifying proper decoding of files conforming to the DivX profiles the certification also confirms the device can play back DivX Video on Demand content, which includes Hollywood content that can be purchased from Internet retailers.
Gaming system compatibility
On 4 December 2007, native MPEG-4 ASP playback support was added to the Xbox 360Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
, allowing it to play video encoded with DivX and other MPEG-4 ASP codecs.
On 17 December 2007, firmware upgrade 2.10 was released for the Sony PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
, which included official DivX Certification. Firmware version 2.50 (released on 15 October 2008) included support for the DivX Video on Demand (DivX VOD) service, and firmware version 2.60 (released on 20 January 2009) included official DivX Certification and updated Profile support to version 3.11.
With introduction of DivX to Go in the DivX Plus Player for Windows, a PlayStation 3 icon is readily available on the interface, which will invoke a transfer wizard for freely converting and copying video files via USB or optical disc. The output from DivX to Go's PlayStation 3 preset is also playable on the Xbox 360.
Competitors
The main competitors of DivX Inc. in the proprietary commercial software market are Microsoft corporation, Google Inc. and Apple Inc. Microsoft develops Windows Media VideoWindows Media Video
'Windows Media Video is a video compression format for several proprietary codecs developed by Microsoft. The original video format, known as WMV, was originally designed for Internet streaming applications, as a competitor to RealVideo. The other formats, such as WMV Screen and WMV Image, cater...
codec (an implementation of VC-1
VC-1
VC-1 is the informal name of the SMPTE 421M video codec standard, which was initially developed as a proprietary video format by Microsoft before it was released as a formal SMPTE standard video format on April 3, 2006...
used on Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
s) as well as Windows Media Player
Windows Media Player
Windows Media Player is a media player and media library application developed by Microsoft that is used for playing audio, video and viewing images on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as on Pocket PC and Windows Mobile-based devices...
, a video player
Video player (software)
A video player is a kind of media player for playing back digital video data from media such as optical discs , as well as from files of appropriate formats such as MPEG, AVI, RealVideo, and QuickTime....
and Microsoft Expression Encoder
Microsoft Expression Encoder
Microsoft Expression Encoder is a Windows-based program for encoding digital video for web-based video. Expression Encoder can be used to create video compressed VC-1 as well as H.264 for distribution via Microsoft Silverlight. Expression Encoder features a WPF-based modern graphical user...
, a video converter. Google Inc. develops WebM
WebM
WebM is an audio-video format designed to provide a royalty-free, open video compression format for use with HTML5 video. The project's development is sponsored by Google....
, a royalty-free video file format chiefly used for online video. Apple Inc. also develops QuickTime
QuickTime
QuickTime is an extensible proprietary multimedia framework developed by Apple Inc., capable of handling various formats of digital video, picture, sound, panoramic images, and interactivity. The classic version of QuickTime is available for Windows XP and later, as well as Mac OS X Leopard and...
, a suite of software that can encode, decode and play digital video (including H.264–compliant video).
Additionally, all software products that create (encode) MPEG-4
MPEG-4
MPEG-4 is a method of defining compression of audio and visual digital data. It was introduced in late 1998 and designated a standard for a group of audio and video coding formats and related technology agreed upon by the ISO/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group under the formal standard ISO/IEC...
–compatible digital video also compete with DivX. One of these products that can produce MPEG-4–compliant digital video is Xvid
XviD
Xvid is a video codec library following the MPEG-4 standard, specifically MPEG-4 Part 2 Advanced Simple Profile . It uses ASP features such as b-frames, global and quarter pixel motion compensation, lumi masking, trellis quantization, and H.263, MPEG and custom quantization matrices.Xvid is a...
, a free and open source codec that offers comparable quality. Both DivX Codec and Xvid are compliant with MPEG-4 Part 2 (MPEG-4 ASP); however, the most commonly used DivX encoding profile (Home Theater) does not employ the same MPEG-4 ASP features enabled in the most commonly used Xvid encoding profile (home). In a series of subjective quality tests at Doom9.org between 2003 and 2005, the DivX encoder was beaten by the Xvid encoder every year. Similar tests were not undertaken for newer versions.
Another notable codec is libavcodec
Libavcodec
libavcodec is a free software/open source LGPL-licensed library of codecs for encoding and decoding video and audio data. Same name but incompatible libraries are provided from both FFmpeg project and Libav project....
, a free software
Free software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
library that can create and play digital video formats that comply with MPEG-4 Part 2 and MPEG-4 Part 10. This library is now part of ffdshow
Ffdshow
ffdshow is a media decoder and encoder mainly used for the fast and high-quality decoding of video in the MPEG-4 ASP and AVC formats, but it supports numerous other video and audio formats as well...
, which can be used for playback with most Windows video players and video converters.
External links
- DivX Labs Community DivX website, with betas and ongoing projects