[MEncoder-users] Codecs and fourcc supported out-of-the-box

[RC]

On Mon, 30 Apr 2007 11:29:31 +0200
Nicolas George <nicolas.george at ens.fr> wrote:

> Did someone ever bother to test and sum up on a web page the
> formats/codecs/fourcc that can be read out-of-the-box by various
> systems (windows, macos, etc.)?

The list of (modern) formats and codecs is pretty small, and should be
rather obvious, as Apple/Microsoft dislike inter-platform compatibility.
fourcc is only an issue with MPEG-4 in AVI, which neither supports by
default AFAIK.

WMP supports WMV1/2/3 video and WMA1/2 audio in ASF containers.  Also
msmpeg4 video with mp3 audio in AVIs.

Quicktime supports svq1/3 and mpeg4/h.264 with mp3/aac audio, in
mp4/mov containers.

Really, the only commonality is MPEG-1 video with mp2 audio in an MPEG
container.  Installing a codec, like Xvid/ffdshow, or a 3rd party
program like VLC, isn't much hassle, so that's what most people do.