3ivx

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3ivx is a video codec created by 3ivx Technologies, based in Sydney, Australia.

3ivx (pronounced "Thriv-ex") is a commercial codec suite that allows the creation of MPEG-4 compliant data streams. It has been designed around a need for decreased processing power for use mainly in embedded systems. 3ivx provides plugins and filters that allow the MPEG-4 data stream to be wrapped by the Microsoft ASF and AVI transports, as well as Apple's QuickTime transport. It also allows the creation of elementary MP4 data streams and provides an audio codec for creation of AAC audio streams.

Official decoders and encoders are provided for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS and BeOS, with unmaintained older releases for the Amiga and Linux. In addition, FFmpeg can decode 3ivx encoded video.

The company is notable for its support of the Haiku OS, for which their staff have produced a Quicktime MOV extractor and a port of the 3ivx codec. As of 2005, they are the only company to support Haiku in any way.

Another notable feature of 3ivx is its support for the streaming of 3ivx encoded files over the Internet, a feature not possible through the AVI filetype.

While the 3ivx codec pack is advertised as being free to download, some components (i.e. the audio encoder and decoder) stop working after 30 days or 50 uses unless the user purchases the paid version of the software. Some users have complained that they have encountered significant system errors and codec malfuntions after deciding to uninstall 3ivx.^[1]