Video for Windows was a multimedia technology developed by Microsoft that allowed Microsoft Windows to play digital video.

Overview

Video for Windows was first introduced in November 1992 as a reaction to Apple Computer's QuickTime technology which added digital video to the Macintosh platform. Originally released as a free add-on to Windows 3.1 and Windows 3.11, it later became an integral component of Windows 95 and later.

Like QuickTime there were three components in Video for Windows. The technology introduced a file format designed to store digital video, Audio Video Interleave (AVI). The technology provided an application programming interface that allowed software developers working on the Windows platform to add the ability to play or manipulate digital video to their own applications. Lastly, it included a suite of software for playing and manipulating digital video:

• Media Player
• VidCap
• VidEdit
• BitEdit
• PalEdit
• WaveEdit

The original version had a number of limitations including a maximum resolution of 320 x 240 and a maximum framerate of 30 frame/s.

The Video for Windows technology was mostly replaced by the July 1996 release of ActiveMovie as part of the OEM Service Release 2 of Windows 95. ActiveMovie was also released as a free download, standalone or bundled with a version of Internet Explorer. One component that was not replaced with ActiveMovie was video capture, which still required an install of Video for Windows until the release of WDM capture drivers, which only started to become popular in 2000.

ActiveMovie was renamed DirectShow in March 1997, coming under the banner of the DirectX technologies.

Version history