MPEG4 codec

As part of a complete reinstall of my Windows XP system I am downloading and installing a lot of the programs I use.

I use Picasa3 by Google for photos editing (basic), organizing, and videos.
One thing I notice since my reinstall is that my MPEG-4 (mpg) videos are not showing up in my Picasa menus. A quick search of the user help forums indicates that a MPEG-4 codec needs to be installed.

I don't want to download and put extra junk on my computer, so is there a 'standard' or streamlined mpg codec that is recommended?

Thanks
Jeff

 

You can try opening one of the MPEG files in Windows Media Player. If the codec is not installed, Media Player will probably automatically download it for you.

 

Mpeg-4 is XviD codec (although usually those files would have an .avi extension).

For XP, I've never had a problem with the K-lite codec pack. Shark007 Vista codec pack is compatible with XP and doesn't include a media player which you probably don't want anyways.

If I had just installed XP I think I would go with Shark007 and be done with it. The problem I foresee with just installing XviD is that you still won't be able to play DVDs on that computer without the DVD codec and at some point you will want that as well.

 

I tried this and it routed me to the Microsoft help page which suggested downloading some new software.

In case anyone has the same problem, I solved it right before I downloaded one of the suggested codec packs. I was wary because of some of the controversy I read about possible malware. In case I can help someone else, here is my solution:

I use Picasa as a photo and video organizing tool, and the help site suggested:

Software Needed to Play Back the Video Type in Picasa
MPEG-2: DVD playback software (PowerDVD, WinDVD) or Video editing software that supports MPEG-2 video (Adobe Premier Elements, Ulead Video Studio, etc.)

Because this was a fresh Windows XP I had not put all of my programs back on the PC. To edit videos I use a nifty little program called Magix Movie Edit Pro 15. Once I installed my video editing program it had an MPEG-2 activation online, allowing me to view MPEG-2 in any program.

 

Thanks for posting back with your solution. The less the better is very true. Codec packs are all in one solutions which isn't right for everyone.

Most of the controversy on codec packs is that they can conflict with each other and with Windows installed codecs. It is best to pick one and not change around as this can break some playability.