when capturing video with amcap, you have an option of compressing the video before it is output to the avi file. the compression is done video a software “codec”, which stands for “compressor/decompressor”. a software codec will compress the video, and decompress it when you want to view the video. this is useful because compressed video takes up less space than full frame (uncompressed) video, and it will help to reduce the size of avi files.

    if you use a software codec, keep in mind that other users may not have the same codecs on their system, and they may not be able to view your avi file. if you are encoding with the realproducer, it compresses the video but the realplayer can decode it. if you know your avi files will only be used on one system, then you can use any codec and not worry about compatibility issues.

    how did i get these software codecs on my computer?

    amcap can use any available software codec on your system. these codecs can be installed manually, such as the intel indeo codec, or they may have come with other software applications on your system. if you are not sure how a codec was installed, then you should probably avoid using that codec, as you may not be able to determine how to install it elsewhere.