Supported Media Formats in Media Foundation
This topic lists the media formats that Microsoft Media Foundation supports natively. Third parties can support additional formats by writing custom plug-ins.
File Containers
| Format | File Extensions | Media Source | Media Sink | Requires |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3GP | .3g2, .3gp, .3gp2, .3gpp | MPEG-4 File Source | 3GP File Sink | Windows 7 |
| Advanced Streaming Format (ASF) | .asf, .wma, .wmv | ASF Media Source | ASF Media Sink | Windows Vista |
| Audio Data Transport Stream (ADTS). | .aac, .adts | ADTS File Source | None | Windows 7 |
| AVI | .avi | AVI File Source | None | Windows 7 |
| MP3 | .mp3 | MP3 File Source | MP3 File Sink | File source: Windows Vista File sink: Windows 7 |
| MPEG-4 | .m4a, .m4v, .mov, .mp4 | MPEG-4 File Source | MPEG-4 File Sink | Windows 7 |
| Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange (SAMI) | .sami, .smi | SAMI Media Source | None | Windows Vista |
| WAVE | .wav | AVI File Source | None | Windows 7 |
Audio Codecs
| Format | Decoder | Encoder | Requires |
|---|---|---|---|
| μ-law Coding | Audio Compression Manager (ACM) μ-law Codec | None | Windows Vista |
| Adaptive Differential Pulse Code Modulation (ADPCM) | ACM ADPCM Codec | None | Windows Vista |
| Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) | AAC Decoder | AAC Encoder | Windows 7 |
| MP3 | Windows Media MP3 Decoder | None | Windows Vista |
| GSM 6.10 | ACM GSM 6.10 Codec | None | Windows Vista |
| Windows Media Audio (WMA) | Windows Media Audio Decoder Windows Media Audio Voice Decoder |
Windows Media Audio Encoder Windows Media Audio Voice Encoder |
Windows Vista |
Note
Media Foundation provides wrappers for several ACM codecs, listed in the previous table. However, Media Foundation does not support arbitrary ACM codecs.
Video Codecs
| Format | Decoder | Encoder | Requires |
|---|---|---|---|
| DV Video | DV Video Decoder | None | Windows 7 |
| H.264 | H.264 Video Decoder | H.264 Video Encoder | Windows 7 |
| H.263 (H.264 baseline profile which is compatible to MPEG-4 Pt2 short video header mode) |
MPEG-4 Part 2 Video Decoder | None | Windows 8 |
| MJPEG | MJPEG Decoder | None | Windows 7 |
| MPEG-4 Part 2 | MPEG-4 Part 2 Video Decoder | None | Windows 7 |
| MPEG-4 v1/v2/v3 | Windows Media MPEG-4 V3 Decoder Windows Media MPEG4 V1/V2 Decoder |
None | Windows Vista |
| Windows Media Video (WMV) | Windows Media Video 9 Decoder Windows Media Video 9 Screen Decoder |
Windows Media Video 9 Encoder Windows Media Video 9 Screen Encoder Windows Media Video 7/8 Encoder |
Windows Vista |
Note
The "Requires" column lists the minimum operating system needed to uses these codecs within a Media Foundation application. Some of these codecs were introduced prior to Windows Vista as DirectX Media Objects (DMOs). If a codec supports DMO functionality, it can be used with DirectShow or the Windows Media Format SDK.
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