Unknown AVI to MPEG

[pickle76]

I have a movie that i got from a friend and i am trying to convert it from avi to mpeg, but it keeps saying unknown format. does anybody know the answer to this??? or run into the problem before? thanks
Bill

[WizyWyg]

Download every codec you cna find and install them.

[pacoreguenga]

Does this avi play just fine and your encoder says it can't recognize it? Or everytime you try to play it it fails?

Open it on notepad and read the first 10 lines. Sure you will find there if it's really an avi or another format. If that's the case, change the extension accordingly.

If it tells you it's an avi, download divx 3, 4 and 5, and even TriVx. That's another option.

[D_Knife]

Open up VirtualDub and open the file in the hex editor (under tools)
open the file you think is an AVI
on the left is a column of numbers (reference points) on line 0 should say RIFF and then further along AVI
this confirms it's an actual AVI file - it might be a ASF or MPG disguised as an AVI
on line 70 is the codec (fourcc) such as DIV3, DIV4, IV32 etc.
once you find out what this is go to this page http://www.webartz.com/fourcc/
and look at the codecs link on the main page.
This will tell you about the codec and where you can find it.