Introduction

In Video for Windows 1.1, compression and decompression drivers could define custom compression and bitmap formats by assigning a four-character code, known as FOURCC. The compression type four-character code must be unique.

DCI is independent of FOURCCs. It is the job of the DCI provider to enumerate and create the surfaces with FOURCCs that correspond to the data formats supported on a device. DCI works as a bridge to graphic devices, allowing clients to write in the data formats which are native to a given device. It is up to a graphics vendor to decide which FOURCCs are appropriate for their hardware.

To get a complete list of all registered types or to register new ones, refer to New Multimedia Data Types Documents and Microsoft Multimedia Registration Kit. Contact the Microsoft Developer Services fax back server line at (800) 426-9400, select option 2, option 1, and follow instructions to retrieve the document # 950 or download the document MRDK.ZIP from CompuServe® WINMM forum.

You can create and register your own custom FOURCCs formats. Download the MRDK.ZIP file and follow instructions for registration.

Below is a partial list of the FOURCCs registered with Microsoft at the time of this release.

FOURCCs

Format Description

Bit Count

MSVC

Video 1

8,16

MRLE

Run-length encoding

4,8

cvid

Cinepak

RT21

Indeo™ 2.1 format

IV31

Indeo™ 3.0 format

IV32

Indeo™ 3.2 format

IF09

Indeo™ Intermediate Common Format

YVU9

YVU9 Planar

9

Y411

YUV 4:1:1 Interleaved

16

YUY2

YUYV 4:2:2 byte ordering

16

YVYU

YVYU 4:2:2 byte ordering

16

UYVY

UYVY 4:2:2 byte ordering

16

Y211

YUV 2:1:1 Packed

8


The Indeo 3.2 codec supports IF09 and RGB formats. The Cinepack codec shipped with the DCI kit supports RGB formats. To license a codec for a specific YUV format, contact the respective codec vendor.