Xvid is a video codec library that follows the MPEG-4 standard. It also adapts to specific standards such as the MPEG-4 Part 2 Advanced Simple Profile or ASP. There are different ASP features used by the Xvid Codec including global and quarter pixel motion compensation, b-frames, masking, LUMI, Trellis quantization, MPEG, H.263 and other custom quantization matrices.

Xvid presents itself as a direct competitor to the DivX Pro Codec. The main difference between these two competitors is that Xvid is available to any individual because it is considered free software. The distribution of the Xvid Codec is guarded under General Public License terms. On the other hand, DivX is proprietary software that the company called DivX, Inc. developed.

The primary advantage of Xvid against its competitor is that the user does not have to pay for its use. Given that it is obtained without charge, it is a package that is compatible with numerous hardware devices. Even with its free distribution, current users find that the codec provides good quality and performance that can surpass competitor products.

Because the Xvid codec is widely supported by multiple hardware devices, the users can come up with videos that can be operated in portable or home multimedia technology devices.

Xvid used to be only compatible with the PC. With its increased popularity, it is now available on different platforms such as Linux, Windows, Mac, Mac OS X, and iMac.

The only problem that the open source Xvid is faced with is the fact that it uses many patented technologies. Some of its versions were not licensed because of this, especially in countries that strictly enforce patent laws. This only means that there may be certain local laws that will legally restrict the use of Xvid.

Because of the patent concerns faced by Xvid, its official website is not able to provide binary versions of the codec. The user can only find links to other supporting websites that will provide codec software that are compatible with Windows and Microsoft.

DivX is a brand name of products developed by the company called DivX, Inc. The former name of the company is DivXNetworks, Inc. DivX Codec is a popular product by DivX, Inc. due to its ability to compress long video segments and convert them into smaller files without having to trade-off visual quality.

MPEG-4 Part 2 allows the DivX Codec to compress the videos. This result to good video quality matched with a good file size for improved utility. The DivX Codec is usually associated with ripping where video and audio files are transcoded and moved to a hard disk.

The DivX recently gained an expansion into the DivX 6. Such expansion has allowed the addition of a media container format to be compatible with simply a codec and a player. The expansion has also led to the discovery of a new optional file format introduced together with the DivX 6. This file is referred to as the DivX Media Format or DMF with a “.divx” extension to the file name.

A new technology has emerged from the DivX Media format and is now called the DivX Ultra Certified profile. The DivX Ultra certified profiles support all the DivX Media Format features.

When users encode with the use of the DivX Codec, the files released as MPEG-4 video stream. The DMF format is similar to other multimedia container formats such as Apple’s Quicktime.

If a user wants to get the DivX Codec and DivX player for free, this is possible through the DivX webtsite. The advantage that paying customers will get is the access to additional features on the DivX Codec in the DivX Pro. The DivX Pro is the commercially registered version.

Paying customers will also be able to access the DivX Converter. Such converter features a one-click encoding application that will allow better viewability of extremely compressed quick-motion scenes.