BleepingComputer.com: Is there a way to check what codec I need?

Hi,

I have 2 computers in my house, one which is my personal computer and one which is my family computer. A friend of mine gave me an AVI to watch which I tested on the family computer and I know it works perfectly.
I transfered it on USB to try to watch it on my personal computer and found that I could only hear the audio but none of the pictures/images/video was coming up.

So I figure that my family computer has the codec that my personal one does not. Is there anyway I can check what the precise codec is, because theres no auto-suggest on WMP nor media classic player.

Thanks for any imput.

What program do you use to watch .avi?
VLC Player will play almost anything: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

Free safe codecs

As Broni suggested. I love VLC. Plays many formats.

Then I toss in either the Full or Mega version of K-Lite and am able to play anything I have had need to.

I use classic media player or vlc BUT I always download & instal divx codec (& player) from divx.com http://www.divx.com/en/software/windows/divx IT IS FREE. I never use their player but this program installs almost all the codecs needed & these codecs automatically install to any player you use. ALSO during install if asked to check online for newest version choose that option.

Thanks for all the advice. It seems that VLC was the only program which I could get which could play it on my personal computer. Doesnt that mean my computer had the codec for it the whole time?

I mostly use WMP10 or media classic player.

VLC comes bundled with quit a few of the more basic codecs including AVI I believe.

WMP is very picky in what it will play, and not just because of codecs.

VLC has most of the known codecs built in, so it's the best player, you can get.