Does anybody know what sound/video codecs slackware comes with and where they're kept? I don't see anything under /usr/codecs or /usr/local/codecs, but i can play divx, xvid, mp3, wmv, etc. so the codecs must be there somewhere. slackware doesn't come with ffmpeg/libavcodecs does it?

I want to know the directory the codecs are in in because I'm probably going to want to update them or install some new ones and i'd like to keep everything in order, maybe move all of them to one place and use symbolic links when necessary.

also, how can i check the version of a codec? and how can i check which version is being used to decode a file? say i install a new divx codec without removing the old one, is there any way that i could make sure that the new one is being used?

Try /usr/lib/win32 and /usr/lib/codecs for the codecs. Get new ones from the mplayer website

neither of those directories exist for me.

then try in a konsole window (as root) e.g. locate divx, locate wmv etc etc

i tried that and nothing shows up for divx, xvid, etc. mp3 brings up a bunch of mp3 files, but no codec(i assume its a .so file). my slocate db is up to date.

What app are you using to play the files?

mplayer, kaboodle, and xine for video files, xmms, amp, and mpg123 for sound files.

My mplayer codes are under /usr/local/lib/codecs - do you have anything there?

AFAIK you can configure your own directory on mplayer/xine settings and most codecs are not installed by default.

Slackware comes with mpg321, and with it any program built against it has support for mp3(such as xmms).

Also, by DEFAULT, mplayer and xine both COME with their own snapshots of libavcodec and ffmpeg. So as a result, slackware's xine is built with support for those codecs.(Essentially everything except WMV version 9 or other Windows only proprietary formats). The mplayer you have installed also either was built by a third party with those codecs, or built by yourself, in which case the mplayer source you downloaded also came with it's own self-contained ffmpeg snapshot.

Slackware is not necessarily like distros like Fedora or Ubuntu. Since slackware has a significantly smaller userbase than ubuntu/fedora, pat is able to completely and totally ignore US patent laws without worrying about legal flak. That is why support for mp3 and such is built in.

nice. so, the codecs are compiled in to most of the players?

what if i wanted to make xmms use a different mp3 codec? could i just drop the codec in /lib/codecs and it would use it?