I need a Versatile Codec

[emmoo10]

To the Video experts:
what is the best codecs that work with all the video files?
thank you in advance

[jagabo]

Your question is too vague.

What do you need the codec(s) for? Are you making videos? Are you just watching videos? Do you need DVD player compatability? Portable player compatability? Computer only? Standard definition? High definition? Specialized requirements?

Do you care about containers? AVI, MKV, MP4, VOB, MOV, etc?

What do you mean by best? Lossless compression? Lossy but most compression? Fastest? Most widely available/used? Most options? Most input/output color formats?

[yoda313]

Generically divx or xvid would probably be considered "best" and most universal. Your personal choice would depend on which you'd use.

WMV or quicktime .mov files also work but are less likely to play as data files on dvd players - most these days can play at least some forms of divx files on dvd-r(+r) as long as it says mpeg4 compatible on it.

As for any other choices you need to be more specific for your needs as jagabo pointed out. There are numerous applications for each codec. Some are great for the computer but have huge file sizes. Others compress really well but look bad at full screen but work great on portable players like an ipod or a playstation portable/zune et. al.

Give us a little description of your end purpose and someone here will be able to suggest a good application that you can use for it.