# What codec do I need for this?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-codec-do-i-need-for-this/532323>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 13, 2010, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-codec-do-i-need-for-this/532323 "2010-03-13T02:36:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2010, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-codec-do-i-need-for-this/532323/1 "2010-03-13T02:36:34Z")

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I have some avi movies I’d like to view, but which I can’t get to work. When I open one up in Quicktime and go to “movie inspector”, it tells me

> [@](#):
>
> Format: DivX 6.0, 320 x 240, Millions  
> MPEG Layer 3, Stereo, 22.050 kHz

It doesn’t give me any error message, but the movie window shows nothing but a uniform green with no audio. The file size is plausible for a movie of its purported length (828 kB for a 15-second movie), so the data’s probably there; I just don’t know how to read it. If I try to open it in Windows Media Player instead, it just gives me an error message that the file format is invalid.

What do I need to be able to watch this, and where do I get it? I’m using Mac OSX 10.4.11 and Quicktime Player 7.6.4 .

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**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2010, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-codec-do-i-need-for-this/532323/2 "2010-03-13T02:41:33Z")

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Doesn’t seem to unusual at first glance. On OSX I use [VLC](http://www.videolan.org/vlc/) and I’ve yet to encounter a video it won’t play\*. I suggest you try it unless you have specific needs for a Quicktime/WMV compatible codec.

- MPlayer is traditionally even better for playing pretty much anything, but it’s not nearly as neatly packaged as VLC and the differences are really minimal with some videos/codecs playing better on VLC at the moment.

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**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2010, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-codec-do-i-need-for-this/532323/3 "2010-03-13T02:42:23Z")

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Have you tried DivX Codecs for Mac:

> **[Free DivX Video Software - Play and convert video. Play DivX files.](https://www.divx.com/en/software/divx/)**
>
> Download free video software to play and convert video, including DivX, AVI, MKV, and HEVC. Easily play AVI and convert to MP4 (Windows/Mac)

For Windows 7, the only codec pack you’ll ever need is the Shark007 codec pack:

> **[Portable 64bit codecs for Windows 11 and Windows 10.](https://shark007.net/index.html)**
>
> High Definition video.

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2010, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-codec-do-i-need-for-this/532323/4 "2010-03-13T04:01:45Z")

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Thanks, **((Superfluous))**. I’d forgotten that I had mplayer on this machine already, and it opens them, and VLC works too. I’m willing to call this answered, unless anyone has anything they really want to add.