What codec pack is the "best"?

[Kawatta-kun]

K-Lite Mega
or
CCCP

State your opinion.

[Enigma]

Definitively CCCP.

I'd actually not recommend k-lite

K-lite = bad idea
without getting into too much detail, k-lite is infested with multiple versions of the same codec.
You set yourself up for trouble any time you have more than one codec (or more than one version of a codec) installed.

[Qyot27]

Neither. Just use recent builds of ffdshow, Haali's Media Splitter, and the standalone versions of Xvid, HuffYUV, and Lagarith. There's no reason at all to download anything else. Not even Quicktime/Real Alternative, as ffdshow can handle them (for MOV, Haali's handles it, and you would need gabest's RealMedia splitter, but that's it).

ffdshow
Haali's Media Splitter
Xvid
Lagarith
HuffYUV

Installing them separately also means you have more control and can easily update them if need be. If you don't care about that, though, go for the CCCP.


Because of changes in Windows 7, you probably won't be able to use any of those decoders in Windows Media Player itself. Media Player Classic and other VFW and DirectShow-based players/applications will still work, though.

[Qyot27]

Oh, and when installing ffdshow, make sure that the VFW interface is checked; you'll want that installed so that you can use AVISource in AviSynth and VirtualDub can actually decode things in VFW. Besides, that's the easiest way to use formats like YV12-mode HuffYUV, MJPEG, or FFV1.

[Kawatta-kun]

About those lossless codecs, i can still rely on AMVaap, can't I?

[Qyot27]

For Lagarith and regular HuffYUV, yeah, I guess. But for YV12-mode HuffYUV and FFV1, you need ffdshow. MJPEG isn't lossless, but using the encoder in ffdshow is simply the easiest one.

Note: CCCP uses ffdshow as its main decoding solution, as [technically] does K-lite. But K-lite's reputation proceeds it, and not in a good way. And it does still include decoders that are totally useless given the inclusion of ffdshow, whereas the CCCP doesn't.

[Bauzi]

Not even Quicktime/Real Alternative, as ffdshow can handle them (for MOV, Haali's handles it, and you would need gabest's RealMedia splitter, but that's it)..

Don't think so. You need QuickTime or QuickTime Alt for useing .movs in After Effects.

[Qyot27]

Not even Quicktime/Real Alternative, as ffdshow can handle them (for MOV, Haali's handles it, and you would need gabest's RealMedia splitter, but that's it)..

Don't think so. You need QuickTime or QuickTime Alt for useing .movs in After Effects.

Why the heck would you try doing that, though? And the point I didn't mention was that considering the prevalence of iTunes, people already have the regular Quicktime Player if they need it.

For the average Windows user, MOV is a playback container that nowadays contains H.264 and AAC - using those sorts of files in an editor is just inviting the kinds of problems DivX AVIs do. But for pure playback, Haali's splits MOV just as effectively as it does MP4, and practically all the common formats you'd find inside them have decoders in libavcodec (the Sorenson formats, Cinepak, maybe some of the other Mac-centric ones, and QDM, MP3, and TOWS/TWOS are supported as well).

[Qyot27]

SOWT/TWOS

Crap. Fixed.

[Bauzi]

I still HIGHLY disagree. If you want to be part of the more pro world out there than your system has to support the .mov container. It starts with the whole Video Copilot preset packs that only come with .mov video files.