ffdshowfor Windows

While most modern media players accept a wide array of file types, using codecs can still give you a lot of power over the way you play them.

A video decoder - and much more

Ffdshow is a DirectShow codec for encoding, decompressing, and tailoring most types of video and audio files.

Ffdshow is a set of video and audio codecs that allow you to play multimedia files. This software supports a variety of video formats, including MP3, DTS, MPEG-4, MPEG-2, and more - all in all, it covers all the bases.

The robust set of filters allows you to enhance your video's quality, display subtitles better, and resize the screen. When it comes to audio, it contains tools for resampling, normalization, downmixing, and upmixing.

Moreover, the full range of playback settings further tailor the activities of your player to perfection - if you can figure out how to do it by yourself since the program offers no tutorials.

Note that you don't necessarily need ffdshow, and your typical PC user won't even find it that handy. However, for people who want to explore all possibilities of their media player, this tool is excellent.

Where can you run this program?

Ffdshow runs on PCs up to Windows 8.1.

Is there a better alternative?

Yes, since ffdshow is a bit redundant for watching content nowadays. You could try GOM Player, Splash, or PotPlayer as more niche alternatives.

Our take

While this program gives you a lot of control over your playback settings, it’s becoming more obsolete for modern PCs.

Should you download it?

No, unless you want to keep using and configuring Media Player Classic, this program won’t add any value to your PC usage.