DivX, XviD: .avi or MPEG-4?

[Darth Paris]

I am totally confused about this. Divx and Xvid are .avi codecs, right? I have also heard them refered to as MPEG-4 codecs. So whats the deal and what exactly is MPEG-4?

[johns0]

Check the GLOSSARY to the left.

[Darth Paris]

I read the definition to MPEG-4, DivX, and Xvid. All that told me is that DivX is based upon MPEG-4. So is DivX just compression for an .avi based upon MPEG-4?

[tigerman8u]

Divx and Xvid are mpeg 4. Thier file extension is avi not mpeg

[Suntan]

Mpeg4 is a standard for codecs, like ISO film speed (200, 400, etc) if you build your codec (IE film) to that standard it will work with everyone's players (IE cameras).

DivX and Xvid are built to comply with the Mpeg4 standard.

AVI is a container (a file structured to hold both audio and video) you encode your video with either DivX or Xvid into an AVI container, then add your audio to the AVI container.

When you playback the AVI file the player opens up the container, splits up the audio and video and decodes/plays the audio and video streams at the same time.

-Suntan

[Darth Paris]

Ok, so I guess I get it now. Thanks for the explination.