2 questions about codecs

[DCW]

I want to include cutscenes into my game and they're in AVI format. Which makes the game kinda big. I want to use a codec to make it smaller.

A few questions:

1: What's a good codec that's free to use, also for commercial purposes?
2: Which codecs are already on everyone's computer (from win 98 to win xp)

Cheers!

[Candle]

lol funny you should ask as I was doing the samething today at DSLR asking about what would be better to use .
The mpg is smaller file and I think most can play it but the picture is not that great .
The microsoft codec 1 I think it is called , I do believe everyoine should have and does not look to bad with good compression .

[Courthold]

DivX is getting more and more use these days, as is mpeg4, both of which a lot of people will have the ability to play on their computers even if it doesn't come with windows by default. There are other alternatives like Quicktime and Bink video. The problem with good codecs and formats is they are never free

Edit: I just remembered that the ffdshow filter/codec thing is free, so if you encoded your movies with divx you may be able to distribute this with your game? Need to read about it more.

[Mr Flibble]

Well, avoid DivX. A lot of people don't actually have it, or at least the most recent version of it. It can be downloaded, but it ALWAYS comes bundled with addware.

Intel have their own codec, I'd use that one. The compression/ file quality ratio is excellent.

Can I ask why you are using a movie? I mean, (unless its a movie of real people, or a 3D modelled movie) doesn't your engine support elongated animations?

The .avi format can be cut down into .flc frames and manually inserted into the game one by one.
See http://www.smacker.com
This tool (used by Blizzard for the Starcraft cutscenes) spilts movie into frames and a music file, and can probably lower the filesize of your game.

[Courthold]

Mr Fibble, I don't know what versions of divx you download but the offical version of the standalone divx codec is adware free, and you can also use the previously mentioned ffdshow or the xvid codec to view divx encoded files.  But yes, there are a lot better options available than divx.

[Mr Flibble]

Wierd.
The only download I could ever find for it was bundled. The site said you had to pay for the ad-free version.
It claimed to be the official site, but they were taking the piss.

[DCW]

The link to the 'clean' version of DivX is kinda tucked away. You're easily distracted by the big graphic buttons displaying three download options, while there is a small text link below that presents the codec only; not that extra stuff you didn't ask for.

I won't be using DivX because it's a commercial product and I don't want to pay for it if I ever decide to sell my game. Xvid sounds like a good solution. I can pack the installation file with my game, since many people don't have it installed by default.