Ogg DirectShow Filters 0.9.9.6

The project has not received an update since 2004, but it remains the original reference implementation for the OGM container and is still occasionally needed to open legacy fansub archives, old game cutscenes, and similar OGM-format files that no modern decoder handles cleanly.

What OGM was - and why this filter pack exists

The OGM format was created in 2002 as an unofficial extension to OGG.

At the time, the official OGG container could only carry audio (typically Vorbis), and there was no clean way to wrap a video stream alongside it.

OGM solved that by adding video support on top of the OGG bitstream, with the added benefit that audio and video stayed reliably synchronized.

Ogg DirectShow Filters was the package that made all of this work inside Windows Media Player, Media Player Classic, and other DirectShow-based players.

Once installed, the filter pack handled the demuxing and decoding automatically, so a double-click on an .ogm file just played.

OGM was eventually superseded by Matroska (MKV), which absorbed every advantage OGM had and added many more. Most users who once relied on OGM have since moved to MKV files handled by Matroska Splitter or the all-in-one LAV Filters stack.

What is inside the package

Ogg DirectShow Filters ships four filters, organized into two AX modules so they can be installed independently:

The Ogg Splitter opens .ogg and .ogm files and separates the streams inside - audio, video, and subtitle - so each can be passed to a downstream decoder. The Ogg Multiplexer does the reverse, combining separate streams into a single Ogg file.

The Vorbis Encoder handles PCM-to-Vorbis encoding in both constant and variable bitrate modes, and the Vorbis Decoder turns a Vorbis stream back into PCM or IEEE float audio for playback.

A later cleanup split the original OggDS.dll into VorbisDS.ax (the encoder/decoder pair) and OggDS.ax (the muxer/splitter pair).

This made it possible to install only the parts you actually needed.

The package also supports VorbisGain tags, the IAMMediaContent interface (so metadata like the TITLE tag reaches the player), and four subtitle formats commonly found inside OGM files: SSA, ASS, UTF-8, and USF.

Honest status: should you still install it in 2026?

For most users, no. The filter pack has not been touched in over two decades, and several documented issues remain unresolved - including the well-known SoundBlaster Live channel-routing problem, where audio plays in only the right channel on certain hardware, and intermittent A/V sync drift on modern Windows installations.

If you simply need to play an .ogm file once, the cleanest path is to install LAV Filters instead. LAV Filters is the modern, actively developed DirectShow stack based on the FFmpeg libraries, and its splitter handles OGM containers natively without the legacy bugs.

Pair it with DirectVobSub if your OGM file carries SSA or ASS subtitle tracks that need rendering.

If you want a one-installer solution that covers OGM alongside every other format you are likely to encounter, the K-Lite Codec Pack bundles LAV Filters, the subtitle renderer, and Media Player Classic in a single setup.

For users who also want encoding tools and the full madVR renderer, the K-Lite Mega Codec Pack is the heavier sibling.

When Ogg DirectShow Filters is still the right call

There is a narrow set of cases where this specific package is genuinely useful:

You have an old OGM archive - typically anime fansubs from 2003-2007, indie game cutscenes, or homemade encodes - that LAV Filters parses incorrectly because of a non-standard header. The original Ogg Splitter is more permissive about malformed OGM headers and will sometimes open files that stricter modern splitters refuse.

You are maintaining a legacy authoring pipeline that depends on the Ogg Multiplexer for batch OGM creation, and rebuilding the pipeline around a modern muxer is not currently feasible.

You need the Vorbis Encoder DLLs registered system-wide for compatibility with an old DirectShow-based recording or editing application that calls into the encoder by GUID.

If none of those describe your situation, install LAV Filters and move on.

Installation notes

If you do install Ogg DirectShow Filters, expect file size to be tiny - the entire package is only 475 KB. Run the installer as administrator so the AX files register correctly under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.

After installation, the filters are immediately available to any DirectShow-aware player including FFDShow, Media Player Classic, and the classic Windows Media Player.

If you only need a modern Ogg Vorbis encoder/decoder for audio work rather than OGM video playback, skip this package entirely and grab the current Ogg Vorbis reference toolkit from Xiph.Org. That release is actively maintained and includes the latest libvorbis 1.3.7 libraries.

Technical details

• Version: 0.9.9.6
• License: Freeware
• Size: 475 KB
• Platform: Windows (legacy package, originally targeting Windows XP/2000-era DirectShow)
• Last development activity: 2004
• Components: Ogg Splitter, Ogg Multiplexer, Vorbis Encoder, Vorbis Decoder
• Container support: OGG, OGM
• Subtitle support: SSA, ASS, UTF-8, USF