DivX 5.11 plays back XviD ?!?!?!?!

[tastypoison]

I have NEVER, EVER installed any XviD codecs, and untill just recently, I had also avoided installing DivX5. I had divx3.11 installed, and that was enough since most of what I do is VCD/SVCD.

But I came up with a divx3.11 clip the other day that wasnt working right (freezing video), but everyone else that downloaded it said it was fine. I decided to upgrade to DivX 5.11 to see if the problem went away. It did, and all has been well since.

However, I decided to try playing an XviD - I never expected it to work, but it does. I have now downloaded 10 to 12 different XviDs from different people/groups...and they have all worked perfectly in DivX 5.11.

When I run Gspot on an XviD file, it shows the fourcc as xvid, and identifies DivX 5.11 as the compatable installed codec.

I thought XviD and DivX were different and required seperate codecs...so why is this working???

[Robert Simandl]

I think it's because there is a specific ISO spec for mpeg-4 files, and since DivX and XviD both comply with the spec, the DivX codec can play back XviD files and vice versa?

Just a semi-educated guess here, not claiming to be an expert...

[fritzi93]

DivX will play XviD, no problem. You can do without the XviD decompressor (I don't have one installed), my system specifically uses DivX to decode Xvid. Alternatively, set the 4cc changer to do the same. The fewer the codecs the better.