windows media codecs

[Rann_03]

ok i was dloading a file from a forum then apparently my wm player wont let me view the dloaded file then somebdy told me to dload codecs needed. then i dloaded a software called: ffdshow. hmm i was just wondering what codecs are for? thanks in advance

[Cache]

Originally Posted by Rann_03

ok i was dloading a file from a forum then apparently my wm player wont let me view the dloaded file then somebdy told me to dload codecs needed. then i dloaded a software called: ffdshow. hmm i was just wondering what codecs are for? thanks in advance

Basically they let you view file formats that need decoding.

See the link bellow for more info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codec

[Rann_03]

thanks but how come it needs decoding? and what decoding is for? thanks

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Originally Posted by Rann_03

thanks but how come it needs decoding? and what decoding is for? thanks

Well, it's pretty much like this (I think lol):

At some point the data in the file has been compressed using a specific compression algorithm. In order for data in the file to then be read you need to know the compression algorithm to "decode" the data back into something your media player can understand. Thats where the codec comes in, it knows the compression algorithm.