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Other Digital Video Codecs

There were a number of other popular codes, all supported by Microsoft’s VfW, still in use by the late 1990s:

  • Microsoft Video 1: Fast compression but low ratios. Good for full-motion, moderate-quality video at resolutions up to about 240×180.
  • Microsoft RLE: Low compression ratios. Better for clean pictures such as animations than recorded video. Has trouble with frequent scene changes.
  • Fractal transforms: These translate the natural curves of a shape into mathematical formulas from which the image can be reconstructed. Quality can be excellent. Compression times are enormous but decompression is fast, and high ratios can be achieved.

Support for many of the currently available codecs is provided by the leading software video players available today:

  • Apple Computer’s QuickTime
  • Microsoft Video for Windows, and most recently
  • Microsoft ActiveMovie.

 

Filed Under: Digital Video

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