Michael Warner II's DivX page

DivX finaly came out with a cross-platform browser plugin similar to Flash. That and its low price won me over to buy the codec and start seriously putting videos on my websites.

Reasons for transcoding videos with DivX

• Much lower price than Flash for transcoding videos.
• Free players like everyone else.
• Open-source wizard tool (Doctor Divx 2) to help you automaticly run through the two pass compression process that really helps squeeze the size down. It is common video encoding knolowledge that you realy should perform two pass compression for many codecs, but it takes extra work. I have not found such a convenient tool for other codecs.
• Compact and unobtrusive cross-platform plugins like Flash, while RealOne Player, Quicktime, and Windows Media Player are becoming ungainly. DivX does not have a plugin for Linux, but Flash doesn't really support video in Linux neither. Flash on Linux is a legacy version which can't use Flash's niceer video codec which is used by many of the good quality videos on the Internet.
• Will play on many enhanced yet inexpensive DVD player boxes, unlike Flash and some other video formats.
• Compatible with third party generics like Xvid and VLC VideoLan so all platforms can play DivX videos. If and when VLC VideoLan's plugin is expanded to support multiple browsers and platforms like DivX Web Player does, I will consider directing my websites' users to it.
• DivX and Xvid install their codec into your system, while Flash and RealPlayer have their codec built into their own application which means you can't use play their videos on a wide range of video software players (including some DVD software players) that support playing videos via installed codecs.

How to play DivX videos that are Not Streamed

All videos on my website are regular files that you can download any way you like.

Play DivX video in your browser

I provided copies of DivX Web Player for quality assurance reasons and because I fear that future versions might become bloated or might pull support from more operating systems. I check my videos with the Windows version. I do not have a Macintosh, but I can say that I downloaded the Macintosh version at the same time and is supposedly the same version number.

• For those who don't trust me here is a link to DivX's website for Web Player
• Install DivX Web Player for Windows
• Install DivX Web Player for Macintosh
• Other platforms, look for a compatible third party codec like Xvid or a robust player like VLC VideoLan which already has built-in codecs for playing DivX and other types of video.

Highlights of the DivX Web Player

• Plays all DivX videos - Play any DivX video in your web browser
• Very small download - Downloads and installs in seconds (less than several MB!)
• Cross-platform support - Compatible with nearly every popular web browser
• Superior compression - Enables higher quality video at smaller file sizes
• Full-screen mode - Double-clicking on the screen switches playback to full-screen mode for a more cinematic experience
• Windowed mode - Allows users to watch videos in a separate window while continuing to surf (right click on the player to access it)
• HD Playback - Supports DivX high definition (HD) video (but only in stereo).

System requirements

The DivX Web Player requires Windows 2K/XP or Mac OS X 10.2 or later and is compatible with the following web browsers.

Windows:

• Internet Explorer (5.0 and above)
• Firefox (1.0 and above)
• Mozilla (1.7 and above)
• Netscape (8.0 and above)
• Opera (8.0 and above)
• Seamonkey (1.0 and above)

Macintosh:

• Safari (2.0 and above)
• Firefox (1.0 and above)
• Mozilla (1.7 and above)
• Netscape (7.2 and above)
• Opera (8.51 and above)
• Camino (1.0 and above)
• Seamonkey (1.0 and above)