Q: I downloaded a video file from the Internet, and the site that I found it on said that it would play in Windows Media Player. When I tried to play it, WMP threw an error at me. The filename has a string of text that says DivX, and I don’t know what that is. Is that causing the problem?

A: Video files can be gargantuan. If you’ve ever tried to download a lengthy clip, then you know this from firsthand experience. Even if you’re on a broadband connection, video can sometimes take ages to download. Instead of growing old while you sit at your computer desk, a number of video codecs (compressor/decompressor) are available to shrink the filesizes while keeping the quality intact. DivX is one of the more popular choices, and a lot of the lengthy video that you’ll find on the Internet will be encoded in that format.

In order to successfully play these files, you’ll need to download the DivX codec. You can do so here, and you’ll be happy to know that the download is completely free. High quality compression makes me a very happy individual.

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