Latest news articles related to codecs & multimedia.

208 news articles on codecs, players and multimedia software, newest first.

MakeMKV's Site Keeps Going Down - Here's What the Error Means

12 Aug 2026 69 views

Why makemkv.com throws Cloudflare errors, what they actually mean, and where to get MakeMKV and its beta key while the site is unreachable.

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How to Install an APK Safely on Android (2026)

10 Aug 2026 475 views

How to install an APK on Android without taking risks - the checks to run first, the permissions that should stop you, and what Google's September 2026 rules change.

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Arc Isn't Finished. The People Who Built It Started Again.

31 Jul 2026 532 views

Arc 1.117.0 ships Chromium security fixes only, while Arc's homepage now points to Dia - the browser its team left to build, and one Windows users still cannot install.

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Sony's FX5 Just Shrank 16-Bit RAW by 40%. Now Try Opening It on Windows

30 Jul 2026 1.300 views

Sony's new X-OCN C1 and C2 compact RAW modes explained in plain English, plus the free tools that actually open and convert the .mxf files on Windows.

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TiviMate Has Vanished From the Play Store Again - Here's How to Get 5.3.3

28 Jul 2026 819 views

TiviMate has disappeared from the Google Play Store once more - here is what caused it and how to install the latest version yourself.

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Varta Is Insolvent: What Happens to Your Batteries Now

27 Jul 2026 651 views

Varta filed four insolvency applications in Stuttgart - here is why the household AA and AAA batteries were deliberately kept out of it.

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Age Verification Is Moving Into Your Phone

12 Jul 2026 1.241 views

A plain-English look at how age verification is moving from websites into your phone itself - why privacy systems like GrapheneOS fail these checks by design, and the free tools that help you push back.

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Why H.264 Plays on Everything: The Codec That Won

21 Jun 2026 1.492 views

Why the oldest modern video codec, H.264, still plays on practically every device - while smarter codecs like AV1 struggle to catch up.

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Is Brave Browser Still Worth It? The Tech, the Drama, and the Man Behind It

13 Jun 2026 3.565 views

An even-handed look at Brave Browser's privacy strengths, founder Brendan Eich's polarizing political views, and the company's real controversies.

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The Open-Source Browser That Wants Your Attention, Not Your Data

10 Jun 2026 2.233 views

Zen Browser joins our downloads: a free Firefox fork that trades Chrome's clutter and tracking for Workspaces, Split View and real privacy.

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Meet Qwant: The Private, EU-Built Alternative to Google

4 Jun 2026 3.409 views

The European Parliament just made French privacy engine Qwant its default search over Google - here is what Qwant is and how to switch your own browser to it.

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Browser Privacy in 2026: Who's Spying and Who's Protecting You

30 May 2026 2.133 views

Your browser knows more about you than your best friend does. The question is who it tells - and most of the popular ones are chatty.

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The Real Story of MP3: How a German Lab Built Audio's Universal Standard

20 May 2026 2.017 views

The 30-year story of how a German research project, a Suzanne Vega song, and a free Windows player turned MP3 into the audio format running 95% of the world's podcasts.

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Dolby vs Snapchat Just Validated MX Player's Weirdest Tech Bet

29 Apr 2026 2.871 views

Why Dolby's March 2026 patent lawsuit against Snapchat - combined with analysts pronouncing VVC dead just months earlier - turned MX Player's 2021 H.266 bet into one of the cleverest strategic moves in streaming.

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x265 4.2 Lands With Threaded Motion Estimation and 8K-Ready Levels

23 Apr 2026 3.819 views

x265 4.2 is the April 2026 update to the leading open-source H.265/HEVC video encoder - the engine behind most free HEVC tools on Windows - bringing a new parallel encoding mode and support for the HEVC spec's highest tiers.

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After 20 Years of Nothing, PNG Now Updates Every Year

10 Apr 2026 4.388 views

The PNG format is moving faster than ever - here's what the 4th and 5th Edition specifications are adding, and why compression is finally on the table.

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X Codec Pack 3 Is Coming - Two New Audio Tools Already Live

6 Apr 2026 4.730 views

X Audio Codec Pack 1.1 and X Audio Converter 1.0 just dropped. X Codec Pack 3 is next.

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Dolby Sues Snapchat Over AV1 and HEVC Patents

3 Apr 2026 5.329 views

Dolby sued Snap on March 23, 2026, alleging Snapchat uses AV1 and HEVC codecs without proper patent licenses - the first such action against a streaming platform by an Access Advance licensor.

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Sora Is Gone - OpenAI Spent $15M a Day on an App That Made $2.1M Total

29 Mar 2026 5.618 views

OpenAI's viral AI video app lasted just 6 months as a standalone product. Here's the full story - brutal economics, a dead $1B Disney deal, and a big strategic pivot.

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