Introduction to DirectShow
Microsoft® DirectShow® is an application programming interface (API) for client-side playback, transformation, and capture of a wide variety of data formats. DirectShow is the successor to Microsoft® Video for Windows® and Microsoft® ActiveMovie™, and it improves on these older technologies in significant ways. For developers, the component architecture of DirectShow makes it easy to support new and custom data formats or create custom effects and transforms on standard formats. DirectShow provides default support for MPEG-1 (including MP3), MPEG-2 parsing and multiplexing, MPEG-4, AVI, WAV, RIFF, and DVD.
You can use DirectShow components in applications written in Microsoft® Visual Basic® or Microsoft® Visual C++®. With Visual C++ you can also create your own custom components. If you are writing an application that requires only basic playback and seeking capabilities for standard audio or video formats, the Application Developer's Guide has the information you need. If you are creating custom file formats, renderers or effects, see the Filter Developer's Guide. If your application needs direct access to media samples, refer to the Multimedia Streaming section.
DirectShow 6.x is supported on Microsoft® Windows® 95 and later, Microsoft® Windows NT® 4 (Service Pack 3 and later), and Windows 2000.
Note DirectShow provides no default components for streaming across networks. For information on Microsoft's support for various network streaming solutions, see the Microsoft® Windows Media™ Technologies home page at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/default.asp.
For the most recent updates to the DirectShow documentation, see the Microsoft® DirectX® Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/DirectX/dxm/.
Last Updated: September 27, 1999
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