Introduction

The DivX FAQ is intended to answer common questions about the DivX® codec and provide helpful information and tips on fixing common problems. The DivX FAQ may not be published at any other website without permission. Duplication of links or content is strictly prohibited. It is written and maintained by the webmaster of https://www.divxmovies.com/.

The latest version of the DivX FAQ will always be available at https://www.divxmovies.com/faq/.

First of all, browse through the FAQ to make sure that your problem isn't already covered. In particular we recommend reading section 4.1, which describes the most common reasons why DivX movies won't play. If you still aren't able to find the solution to your problem, try asking in the DivX.com Forums.

Requirements

In order to play DivX movies you need to install the DivX® codec, DirectX and a media player which supports the codec. We recommend using Windows Media Player 6.4 or higher to play DivX movies. For information how to install the DivX® codec, goto the DivX codec section.

All that is needed is a fast enough computer. We don't know the exact minimum requirements, but anything less than a Pentium 300MHz running Windows 9X/NT/2000/XP is likely to encounter problems with skipping. For AMD K6/K6-2 computers we have found that the minimum requirements are higher and we recommend at least an AMD K6-2 400MHz for proper playback.

If your computer isn't fast enough to play DivX movies it is possible to change the image quality. Goto the File menu in Windows Media Player and select Properties (make sure that you have a DivX movie loaded or the Properties option will be disabled). Then click the Advanced tab and select the "DivX MPEG-4 DVD Video Decompressor", then click Properties. A new window with a slider which ranges from CPU to DVD Video will be displayed. If you move the slider to the left your computer will compromise some of the image quality, but instead you will get less skipping. If you move the slider to the right your computer will display the DivX movie at full quality, but it will be slower to decode and might start to skip. We recommend users to not change this setting unless they are having playback problems.

Please note that the above instructions only work in Windows Media Player v6.4. If your system has a newer version of Windows Media Player installed you can still access the older version to make the needed changes. Simply goto the Start menu in Windows, select "Run..." and enter "mplayer2" in the box. Then click the OK button to start Windows Media Player v6.4.

If you're having problems with skipping you can also try lowering your desktop resolution to 640x480 and see if it helps.

If you're trying to play older DivX movies that were created using the DivX codec v3.11 alpha and you run into problems with skipping you can try and uninstall the latest version of the DivX® codec and reinstall the DivX codec v3.11 alpha instead. Even though the latest version of the DivX® codec is fully backwards compatible with the original DivX codec it isn't as optimized for playback of older DivX movies, so the original version of the codec is faster. This solution should be combined with the ones described in section 2.3 and 2.4.

Installation problems

All files in divx_3.11alpha.zip need to be unzipped before it is possible to begin the installation of the DivX® codec. Otherwise the installation program won't find the needed DivX.inf file. Instead of double clicking Register_DivX.exe in WinZip, unzip the files to a directory and then right click on the file "DivX.inf" and choose "Install".

If you get an error message asking you for the "DivX ;-) MPEG-4 Video Codec Install Disk" you need to do the following. When the error message appears, click on the Browse button and goto the directory where you unzipped the DivX® codec files. Then simply select the file which is missing and click the OK button to continue the installation.

The most common reason for getting this error message is because you are trying to install the DivX® codec in Windows NT/2K. The problem is that you don't have administrator privileges. The installation program needs to be able to create some files in the windows system directories as well as update the system registry. Make sure you have these privileges or contact someone who has them to get help.

If you get the error message "The installer you are trying to use is corrupted or incomplete." when you try to install the DivX® codec it's because there was some problem during the downloading process that caused the installation file to become corrupted or incomplete. To fix the problem you can either try to re-download the installation file or if you're having general problems with downloading EXE files from the web you can download the following alternative ZIP version instead: DivXInstaller.zip

Please note that you will need WinZIP or some other software to decompress the installation file from the ZIP archive before you can start the installation process.

If you try to install the DivX codec v3.11 alpha in Windows XP, you will get a warning message stating that the software didn't pass the compatibility test. Windows XP will also warn you that installing the software could cause damage to your system. To our knowledge this warning is unfounded and installing the DivX codec v3.11 alpha shouldn't cause any problems. We believe that the real reason Windows XP is complaining about this is because the DivX codec v3.11 alpha is a hacked/improved version of a Microsoft codec.

If you want to be on the safe side you should install the latest version of the DivX® codec instead, which is fully Windows XP compatible. It has been completely rewritten from scratch and contains no Microsoft technology. The only problem you might run into using the new DivX® codec is that the audio in some DivX movies will stop working. This can be easily fixed by installing the DivX ;-) audio decompressor separately.

We've had a few reports about this problem and we believe it has something to do with Windows ME (Millennium), since all people with the problem are running this version of Windows. The avoid the progress window from freezing, right click on the DivX.inf file and choose "Install" instead of running Register_DivX.exe directly.

Playback problems

The most common reason that downloaded movies don't work is because the download is incomplete. To find out if a movie is incomplete you should download GSpot and open the movie you are having problems playing. If the "Stat" field for the file says that the file length is correct the file is complete. If the "Stat" field for the file says that the file is truncated the file is incomplete and you need to resume the download. For information how to watch an incomplete movie, see section 4.2.

If the movie is complete and it still won't work it's probably because you don't have the required video/audio codecs installed on your computer. If you're having problems with the video you can find instructions how to determine what video codec is required to play the movie in section 4.3. If you're having problems with the audio you can find instructions how to determine what audio codec is required to play the movie in section 4.4.

If you've got all the required codecs installed on your system and you still can't play the movie it's possible that your installed codecs aren't working properly. We've provided a small DivX video clip with no sound that can be used to test your installation of the DivX® codec. Download it and try to watch it, but make sure that it is complete (307200 bytes in size). If the small DivX® video clip plays fine then you can conclude that there is some problem with the movie you have downloaded. If you experience the same errors/problems with the small clip then your installed codec isn't working properly and you need to reinstall the DivX codec.

There is a program called DivFix which can be used to rebuild the missing index part so that you can watch partially downloaded (incomplete) DivX movies. The program can be downloaded from the Software section. Just remember to strip the index before you resume the download or the file will be completely corrupted and impossible to repair.

This problem occurs when you try to watch a movie and the video player you are using is unable to find the needed video codec. You might be able to listen to the sound but no video is shown. Fortunately, there is an easy way to fix this problem. All AVI files contain a FourCC code in the header of the file, which can be used to identify the video codec required to play the movie.

To find out which video codec you're missing you should download GSpot and open the movie you are having problems playing. The program will give you information about what codecs are needed to play the movie and if you have them installed on your computer. However, please note that even though GSpot might say that you have compatible codecs installed this information isn't always correct. To see which codec is actually used to decode the video, use the "Render" option at the bottom of the program. If GSpot says "Rendering failed" or "Partial failure" then you don't have any compatible video codec installed, so you need to use the FourCC code to lookup the codec you need to download and install in the following list:

If the video codec you need isn't listed above, check out FourCC.org for a more complete list of codecs. Please note that there doesn't exist any video codec that uses the FourCC code 0. If you've downloaded a movie with the FourCC code 0 it's either fake or corrupt and you won't be able to watch it.

First of all, you need to figure out if the problem is with the movie you are trying to play or your system configuration. You can do this by trying to play an MP3 or another movie and see if the sound works. If it does you should keep on reading for more information how to fix the problem. Otherwise you have to figure out what's wrong with your system configuration.

It's important to understand that video and audio are two separate things, which when combined make up movies. A movie consists of a video stream for the picture and an audio stream for the sound. The DivX® codec is what makes it possible to decode the video stream, but it has nothing to do with decoding the audio stream. If the sound in a movie isn't working you have to find out which audio codec is missing and install it.

To find out which audio codec you're missing you should download GSpot and open the movie you are having problems playing. The program will give you information about what codecs are needed to play the movie and if you have them installed on your computer. However, please note that even though GSpot might say that you have compatible codecs installed this information isn't always correct. To see which codec is actually used to decode the audio, use the "Render" option at the bottom of the program. If GSpot says "Rendering failed" or "Partial failure" then you don't have any compatible audio codec installed, so you need to use audio codec name to lookup the codec you need to download and install in the following list:

Please note that the new DivX® codec doesn't include support for the DivX ;-) Audio format, so you won't be able to watch these movies with sound simply using the new DivX® codec. The only way to watch these movies with sound is either using the original DivX codec v3.11 alpha, or by installing the DivX ;-) audio decompressor separately.

The DivX movie that you are trying to play contains errors. Some of the frames in the movie are invalid and when you try to play the movie the picture freezes because of these errors. The sound is able to keep on playing since it isn't as sensitive to small errors as the video. The invalid frames are usually caused by resuming downloads. To fix the invalid frames you can either try to download the movie again, but this won't help if your source also has a corrupted movie. In that case the only way to fix the movie is to load the movie into VirtualDub and manually edit/delete the invalid frames. There exists a workaround called DivX AntiFreeze, which once installed will avoid the permanent freezings during playback in Windows Media Player. However, it does not fix the invalid frames in the clip.

This problem usually occurs when you try to play a DivX movie that is encoded with a newer version of the DivX® codec than the one installed on your system (the codec installed on your system is outdated). If you don't have the latest version of the DivX codec installed already, make sure to upgrade before trying any of these suggestions.

If simply upgrading the DivX® codec doesn't help, the problem is most likely that another DirectShow filter which isn't fully compatible with DivX® video is overriding the DivX® codec for playback. To find out which filter/codec is actually being used to decode the movie you should download GSpot and open the movie you are having problems playing. After loading the movie into GSpot, use the "Render" option at the bottom of the program and look at the value of the "Video path". If the video path says "DivX Decoder Filter" then the installed DivX® codec is being used to decode the movie, so either the codec is outdated or the file is damaged/corrupt. If the video path says "ffdshow MPEG-4 Video Decoder" or anything else then you need to figure out how to disable this filter/codec.

To disable the "ffdshow MPEG-4 Video Decoder" from decoding DivX videos, simply goto the Start->Programs->ffdshow folder and select the Configuration option. Then switch to the "Codecs" section and change the DivX setting from "libavcodec" to either "disabled" or the "DivX" option. This should tell your computer to use the installed DivX® codec to decode DivX movies instead of FFDShow.

If the picture is too dark when playing DivX movies it is possible to change the brightness/contrast settings. Goto the File menu in Windows Media Player and select Properties (make sure that you have a DivX movie loaded or the Properties option will be disabled). Then click the Advanced tab and select the "DivX MPEG-4 DVD Video Decompressor", then click Properties. A new window with a brightness slider will be displayed. If you move the slider to the left the picture will become darker. If you move the slider to the right the picture will become brighter. Experiment a bit to find the value that works best for you.

Please note that the above instructions only work in Windows Media Player v6.4. If your system has a newer version of Windows Media Player installed you can still access the older version to make the needed changes. Simply goto the Start menu in Windows, select "Run..." and enter "mplayer2" in the box. Then click the OK button to start Windows Media Player v6.4.

If you don't already have the latest version of the DivX codec installed, make sure to upgrade before trying any of these suggestions.

If the video still plays upside-down or mirrored after upgrading, it's likely that you have some conflicting DirectShow filter(s) installed that are flipping the video. The two most common filters that cause these type of problems are the Bicubic Resize filter (bicubic_resizer.ax) and the G400 filter (divxg400.ax). To check if any of these filters are installed, simply look for the files in your C:\Windows\System32 directory (on the drive where Windows is installed). If you find any of these filters installed, simply goto the Start menu in Windows and select "Run...", then enter "regsvr32 /u filename.ax" in the box and click the OK button to unregister the filter.

Another way to possibly fix the problem is to goto the Tools->Options->Performance->Advanced menu in Windows Media Player and deselect the "Use video mixing renderer" option. While this option works for some it doesn't solve the problem for everyone.

The reason for this is most likely that your computer isn't fast enough to play DivX movies. You can try lowering the image quality and resolution as described in section 2.3 and 2.4. You can also try to use an older version of the DivX® codec as described in section 2.5. If this doesn't fix the problem, we recommend users to try BSPlayer, since it uses considerably less CPU and memory than Windows Media Player. The program can be downloaded from the DivX players section.

We've found that the problem with really low volume in DivX movies is usually caused by the movies using the AC3 audio codec. The default volume for the AC3 codec is quite low, so raising the regular volume controls might not be enough for some movies. To fix the problem, simply goto the Start menu in Windows, select "Settings" and then the "Control Panel". If you have the AC3 codec installed on your system you should see the "AC3 Filter" listed there. Simply open the "AC3 Filter" and from there you should be able to change the Master volume, and even the volume of individual channels such as the Voice channel.

Common questions

The word codec is short for compressor/decompressor. When you install a video codec on your computer, what you really are doing is giving Windows Media Player instructions how to compress/decompress movies in that file format. If the needed codec is missing you will receive an error message that Windows Media Player is unable to download an appropriate decompressor. For more information about this problem, see section 6.1.

DivX® is the name of a popular new video codec developed by DivX, Inc. The format was developed enable users to play and create high-quality videos in a fast and convenient way, while still maintaining the best quality possible. The DivX® codec is currently the most popular MPEG-4 based codec because of its quality, speed and efficiency as well as the wide range of DVD players that support the DivX® format. To download and install the codec, goto the DivX codec section.

Error messages (Windows Media Player)

This error occurs when you try to watch a movie and Windows Media Player is unable to find the needed video codec. You might be able to listen to the sound but no video is shown. This either means that you haven't got the required video codec installed or that the installed codec isn't working properly. To figure out which video codec you need to install, see section 4.3.

This error occurs when you try to watch a movie and Windows Media Player is unable to find the needed video codec. In order to play the movie you need to install the DivX® codec which contains a DIV3 decompressor. For information how to install the DivX® codec, goto the DivX codec section.

This error occurs when you try to watch a movie and Windows Media Player is unable to find the needed video codec. In order to play the movie you need to install the DivX® codec which contains a DIV4 decompressor. For information how to install the DivX® codec, goto the DivX codec section.

This error occurs when you try to watch a movie and Windows Media Player is unable to find the needed video codec. In order to play the movie you need to install the DivX® codec which contains a DIVX decompressor. For information how to install the DivX® codec, goto the DivX codec section.

This error occurs when you try to watch a movie and Windows Media Player is unable to find the needed video codec. In order to play the movie you need to install the DivX® codec which contains a DX50 decompressor. For information how to install the DivX® codec, goto the DivX codec section.

This error occurs when you try to watch a movie and Windows Media Player is unable to find the needed video codec. In order to play the movie you need to install the SMR codec which contains a MP43 decompressor. You can download the SMR codec from the Software section.

This error occurs when you try to watch a movie and Windows Media Player is unable to find the needed video codec. In order to play the movie you need to install the XviD codec which contains a XVID decompressor. For information how to install the XviD codec, goto the XviD codec section.

This error occurs when you try to watch a movie and Windows Media Player is unable to render the video stream. The DivX movie that you are trying to play is either incomplete or corrupt and the DivX® codec doesn't support playback of incomplete DivX movies, so make sure that you have the whole file before you try to watch it. For a possible workaround, see section 4.2.

This error occurs when you try to watch a movie and Windows Media Player detects that the file format is invalid. The DivX movie that you are trying to play is either incomplete or corrupt and the DivX® codec doesn't support playback of incomplete DivX movies, so make sure that you have the whole file before you try to watch it. For a possible workaround, see section 4.2.