Video Codecs

An video codec is a hardware device or a computer program that compresses/decompresses digital video data according to a given video file format or streaming video format

Quicktime

This is one of the most common forms of media that you will encounter. You need it for viewing media on your browser. It comes bundled with iTunes if you did not have it already. Also check if you have the latest version, its very good to stay up to date on your software.


Media Players

Windows Media Player (this media player comes bundled with every windows install, and is very nicely organized)

iTunes Media Player (Possibly one of the most popular media players, very well organized, and has some advanced features like mobile library synchronization)

VLC Media player  (nicknamed the play-it-all media player, this media player supports the most amount of audio and video formats, and works on almost every operating system, including linux)

Winamp (this media player is very popular, and has an exellent media orginizational style, and is extremely customizable in terms of appearance)