Selecting a Video Encoder for Windows

Question

My software encodes videos using the standard Windows AVIFile functionality. That means, it can use all the DirectShow Codecs that are installed.

I recommend my users to download the XVid Codec themselves, but that's inconvenient. I cannot bundle XVid since my software is not GPL. Is there any good direct-show-compatible video codec that can be redistributed with a commercial application? Requirement: The videos must look great on YouTube.

If not, I could switch from AViFile to another library (e.g. FFMpeg). But I'd like to avoid that if possible.

Thanks! :-)

Edit: The videos are computer animation with very sharp details (explosions and sparks). The video should be high-bitrate.

Answer 1

Theora is an excellent open source codec with very good DirectShow support. You also might consider google's newer WebM codecs. You dont say what kind of video you are distributing (from a camcorder, animation/computer rendered graphics, etc), so some of the choice of codec may depend on the exact nature of your video.