Codec

Getting video and audio content to play on your system shouldn't be a difficult task, but if the appropriate codecs are missing you might be in a spot of trouble. If that is the case, a pack such as Codec will come in handy.

With a pretty self-explaining name, this is a software solution that was designed in order to provide you with the means of accomplishing a simple goal: open video files as well as audio streams, regardless of their format.

There's no complicated thing about Codec because it all comes down to the setup process. The installation takes only a couple of few seconds and, unlike other and fancier codec packs, the user isn't involved at all.

This software bundles only the essential codecs you'll need when trying to play multimedia files, so there's no interface. Instead, you will be able to access, via the Start Menu, all the configuration screens for each of the components installed by Codec.

You will get only the essential codecs, namely the AC3 Filter for audio streams, DivX, XviD encoder and decoder, as well as the Haali Media Splitter and CoreAVC.

During our test on a clean Windows machine, we did manage to open all video formats we've tried, which proves that Codec is indeed an efficient solution for anyone who doesn't need larger packs with all kind of extra tools.

Overall, Codec is just a simple and very light package that comes in very handy when trying to open video files. The best thing about it is that Codec only drops on your computer the tools you need and nothing more.