Codec Question

[RichSz]

This has been bugging me.

With all the video players out for Android, it still seems like there are a bunch of files types which are not supported (I don't have a comprehensive list). In one of the video apps it said it would only play files which Android supported natively. This got me thinking. Why isn't there something like VLC (on the PC) which supplies its own codecs and plays just about everything? Could there be a technical issue like too much memory consumption or a licensing issue? Maybe nobody has gotten around to writing it.

I expected Android to handle anything we could throw at it.

 

[sitlet]

Why isn't there something like VLC (on the PC) which supplies its own codecs and plays just about everything?

Because the os doesnt support outside codecs. The only program that comes close to vlc is Rock Player.

 

[RichSz]

Because the os doesnt support outside codecs. The only program that comes close to vlc is Rock Player.

Interesting. I expect an "open" OS to support that but again, there may be technical issues I'm not aware of.

 

[sitlet]

Its not an issue of google not "allowing" these codecs, its just that they arent supported.

 

[RichSz]

Its not an issue of google not "allowing" these codecs, its just that they arent supported.

I don't think I understand the distinction. I get that if they weren't "allowed" it would imply that Google actively restricts them. How is "not supported" different?

 

[afzkl]

There isn't any way to plugin codecs and make it possible for all apps to use them (though the MediaPlayer classes) in Android for what I know. Of course baking everything into a custom ROM should probably be possible. But it hasn't been done with video codecs I believe. Audio FLAC support has been added to some ROM:s though..

And there are some licensing issues with some codecs too, Google probably don't want to pay a huge amount of money to include them by default in their FREE OS...

 

[Demache]

Interesting. I expect an "open" OS to support that but again, there may be technical issues I'm not aware of.

CPU problems were the biggest issue. Phones just recently became powerful to be able to play more than a few different codecs. MP4 videos are decoded via the onboard video processor, but anything else is a crapshoot since its entirely dependent on how powerful your phone processor is.