Why do I receive a warning or error about locating the Indeo5 compressor when I use the MOVIE2AVI, AVIFILE, or AVIREAD functions?

Date Last Modified: Friday, May 13, 2011

Solution ID:		1-4G50RI
Product:		MATLAB
Reported in Release:		R2007b
Platform:		Windows x64
Operating System:		Windows Vista

Subject:

Problem Description:

I am trying to create an AVI file using AVIFILE or MOVIE2AVI.

When I execute

aviObj = avifile('C:\temp\test.avi'); or

aviObj = movie2avi(mov, 'C:\temp\test.avi'); I receive the warning message:

Warning: Cannot locate Indeo5 compressor, using 'None' as the compression type.
If I explicitly specify 'Indeo5' as the 'Compression' method, instead:

aviObj = avifile('C:\temp\test.avi', 'Compression', 'Indeo5'); I receive the error:

Indeo codecs are not supported in this version of Windows. You must specify a different codec.
In addition, when I try to open certain AVI files using AVIREAD, I get the following error:

??? Error using ==> aviread at 75 Unable to locate decompressor Indeo5 to decompress video stream.

Solution:

This warning or error occurs because the Indeo version 5 codec was not found on the current system. The Indeo codec was shipped with Windows XP, Windows XP SP2, and prior versions, however it is not shipped with the following operating systems: Windows XP SP1, Windows XP x64, Windows Vista (32/64), and Windows 7 (32/64).

Indeo 5 is the default codec used by MOVIE2AVI and AVIFILE.

1. For Windows XP users, download this patch from Microsoft:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=3c9464fb-7cd7-461b-ad24-6a4d1c5df8ff&displaylang=en

This patch adds the Indeo 5 codec to valid installations of Windows.

The Indeo 5 codec is also available from Ligos Corporation:

http://ligos.com/index.php/home/products/indeo/

Note, however, that the Ligos version of the Indeo codec is not free and is only available for 32-bit machines.

2. To allow you to continue making AVI movies, AVIFILE and MOVIE2AVI will default to using 'none' as their compression type on Windows Vista.

A possible workaround is to use a different compression method that is available in Windows Vista. For example, to use the Cinepak codec, use the following MATLAB command:

movie2avi(mov, 'avifile.avi', 'compression', 'Cinepak'); For more information on AVIFILE or MOVIE2AVI including the different compression options, consult the documentation by executing the following at the MATLAB prompt:

doc avifile doc movie2avi Also note that on some Windows systems, including all 64-bit systems, the default Indeo 5 codec is not available. MATLAB issues a warning, and creates an uncompressed file.

On 32-bit Windows XP systems, MATLAB can create AVI files compressed with Indeo 3 and Indeo 5 codecs. However, Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) with Security Update 954157 disables playback of Indeo 3 and Indeo 5 codecs in Windows Media Player and Internet Explorer. Consider specifying a compression value of 'None'. See the following link for more information:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/954157.mspx

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