RAW Image Formats Explained: CR3, NEF, ARW, RAF and the Rest
A plain-English explainer covering what RAW files hold, which format each camera brand uses, and what opens them on Windows.
CODECS.COM articles
Guides and News on Codecs and Multimedia
550 guides and news articles on codecs, media players and the tools around them, newest first.
Best Video Renderer for Windows: Which One Actually Helps
Which Windows video renderer to use, what changing one actually fixes, and why stuttering is never the renderer's fault.
How to Play AV1 Videos on Windows 11
Install the free AV1 Video Extension to play AV1 in Movies and TV, plus why VLC and MPV play AV1 already without it.
Apple's Secret Weapon for Streaming: From WaveOne to PICO
The 2023 acquisition story with its ending attached: Apple published PICO in 2026, and a WaveOne co-founder is on the paper.
How Codecs Work: The Four Stages Behind Every Video You Play
A walk through the four stages every video passes through between double-click and picture, and how to tell which one is failing.
Audio Codecs Explained: Music, Speech and Lossless Formats
Why music codecs and speech codecs are built differently, which audio format to pick for what, and how to fix an old clip that plays with no sound.
After Nine Years Frozen, LAME Is Moving Again - What Is in 4.1
The MP3 encoder inside Audacity and most CD rippers is being developed again, and the next release fixes a quality bug that has been wrong for years.
How to Enable Hardware Acceleration in MPC-HC (and Check It Worked)
Current MPC-HC configures GPU decoding on its own, so this covers how to confirm it is running and how to set it manually when it is not.
Does AV1 Drain Your Battery? Hardware vs Software Decoding
Why AV1 flattens the battery on some laptops and not others, how to check which side your hardware is on, and the fixes that actually work.
How to Get AV1 Codec on Android
Why there is no AV1 codec to download on Android, which players already decode it, and how to tell whether your phone does it in hardware.
How to View JPEG XL (.jxl) Files on Windows - 4 Ways That Work
Windows does not open .jxl files out of the box, and the free Microsoft extension only installs on recent builds - here are four routes that work on any version.
Master AV1 Encoding: rav1e + FFmpeg Complete Guide
Copy-paste FFmpeg and rav1e commands for AV1 encoding, covering 10-bit, tiling, film grain synthesis and which quantizer to pick.
Is AI Enabling Next-Generation Codecs? Three Years On
Neural codecs stopped being theoretical. JPEG AI is a published standard, Apple bought its way in, and AI encoding already runs in your streaming apps.
The Future of Video Codecs: HEVC, AV1, VVC and AI Compression
An honest look at where video codecs are going, with the marketing numbers stripped out and only the claims that survive checking left in.
Why Your Images Look Faded in Microsoft Photos (and How to Fix It)
Why the same image looks washed out in Microsoft Photos but perfectly normal in Paint, and how to fix the colour profile behind it.
How to Enable AV1 on YouTube (and Whether You Should)
How to switch YouTube to the AV1 codec, verify it is really being used, and check whether your machine can decode AV1 without stuttering.
Android Version History: Every Release from 1.0 to 17 Explained
Every Android release from 1.0 to 17 with dates and features, plus which versions still get security patches and which to avoid buying in 2026.
How to Install LAME MP3 Encoder 4.0 on Windows 11 and 10
A plain-English walkthrough of every way to get LAME MP3 Encoder 4.0 running on Windows, from the command line to Audacity to no install at all.
How to Blur or Remove Backgrounds with Hypic on Android
A screenshot walkthrough of Hypic's Mosaic and Cutout tools, the two free ways to blur a background or remove it entirely on Android.
What Is Media Foundation? Why Your Windows Videos Will Not Play
What Media Foundation is, how it differs from DirectShow, and why Windows ships without the codecs it needs to play modern video.
Latest comments
AllInteresting development with the Fire TV Stick 4K — losing Kodi sideloading is a big deal for a lot of users. For those ...
News: The New Fire TV Stick 4K Can't Run Kodi - Here's Which Fire Stick Still Can 3 commentsThanks genius, it worked for me. v2.4.149.0 on windows 10
Guide: How to Download HEVC Video Extension for Free 181 commentsXMediaRecode gives only the option to Copy (No convert) in Audio Mode drop down. I am trying to convert/recode the EAc3 ...
Team replied Guide: How to Convert EAC3 Audio to AC3 or AAC With XMedia Recode 1 comment