Origin Xan Codec

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Revision as of 03:58, 2 April 2006 by VAG (talk | contribs) (confusing trivia)
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The Xan codec is a codec used in various multimedia-heavy titles from early in the FMV-era of PC computer games. The video was packaged in AVI files along with a custom DPCM audio codec.

While not all of the details have been reverse engineered, the Xan codec is known to use the same byte unpacking algorithm as used in the custom video codec developed for Wing Commander III. Further, it uses Huffman coding and bit packing, though using a slightly different algorithm than its predecessor codec, and it appears to have been designed to easily accommodate a number of video output and scaling modes.

Trivia: All Xan-encoded AVI files contain very interesting comment string inside. 'Xxan video stream, Blue Mu Productions.' What could possible that Blue Mu be? A subdivision of Origin or real codec authors?

Games Using Xan Video