Video for Windows

Video for Windows (VfW) is Microsoft's multimedia framework which enables certain versions of its Windows operating system to play and encode digital videos.

The technology was developed as a response to Apple's QuickTime for Windows, which offered similar features. Apple later sued Microsoft because it supposedly used QuickTime code to improve Video for Windows. The framework was later replaced by ActiveMovie (later DirectShow) and also included Media Player.

Versions for Windows 3.1x could be obtained for free from Microsoft and installed as an add-on. Later versions for Windows 95 and NT were already included with the operating system.

Known versions
The list below includes the "short" version number, the full version number with build number (from MSVIDEO.DLL) and additional details. Please note that the existence of 1.1d and e means that 1.1a, b and c also had to exist at some point.


 * 1.0 (1.1.0.95) - first version, released in November 1992
 * 1.1 (1.10.0.176) - added Cinepack codec, released in November 1993
 * 1.1 (1.10.0.193) - Japanese 1.1 version, released in August 1994
 * 1.1d (1.10.0.196) - includes Indeo 3.2, released in November 1994
 * 1.1e (1.10.0.200) - last version for Windows 3.1x, released in March 1995