Sustainability of Digital Formats
 Planning for Library of Congress Collections

Format Description Categories >> Browse Alphabetical List>> Back

Identification and description

Full name	Indeo Video Codec, Version 5
Description	Bitstream encoding for video, originally developed by Intel. John McGowan states that Indeo 5 employs a wavelet algorithm and other encoding features; its predecessor Indeo 4 employs a presumably similar "hybrid wavelet algorithm." Windows implementations of Indeo are distributed by Ligos Corporation; the Mac versions (with support that ends with operating system OS 9) from Apple. All versions numbered 5 are covered by this document; there is no separate document for the presumably similar version 4, nor for Indeo XP developed for Windows XP and Vista. Note that version 3 (Indeo_3) compresses by means of vector quantization rather than wavelet transforms; nevertheless, it is listed as an earlier version below.
Production phase	Generally used as an end-user delivery format.
Relationship to other formats
Used by	AVI_Indeo, AVI, Indeo Codec
Used by	QuickTime, Indeo Codec (not documented at this time)
Has earlier version	Indeo_3, Indeo Video Codec, Version 3
Has earlier version	Indeo Video Codec, Version 4 (not documented at this time)
Other	Indeo Video Codec XP (also know as Indeo Video version 5.2) for Windows XP and Vista (not documented at this time).

Local use

LC experience or existing holdings
LC preference

Sustainability factors

Disclosure	Proprietary standard with some public documentation
Documentation	Documentation
Adoption	Not known to the writers of this document.
Licensing and patents	Indeo codecs and software may be licensed from Ligos Corporation; some information in Ligos Indeo FAQ.
Transparency	Depends upon algorithms and tools to read; will require sophistication to build tools.
Self-documentation	Not applicable; provided by wrapper formats.
External dependencies	None.
Technical protection considerations	Ligos Corporation FAQ states that developers can assign access keys to video files to protect them. These or additional protections may [also?] be provided by wrapper formats.

Quality and functionality factors

Moving Image
Normal rendering	Not applicable
Clarity (high image resolution)	Moderate, varies according to levels of compression and picture size; the maximum of which is about four megapixels, with no dimension exceeding 8,188 pixels. Does not support interlaced playback.
Functionality beyond normal rendering	Not applicable.

File type signifiers

Tag	Value	Note
Filename extension	n/a
Internet Media Type	n/a
Magic numbers	n/a
Microsoft FOURCC	IV50	Used when this codec is wrapped in Microsoft file formats, e.g., AVI and ASF; see the Microsoft registry, which also lists a number of additional IV FOURCCs. John McGowan states that IV32 is generally used for Indeo 3; IV41 for Indeo 4, and IV50 for Indeo 5.

Notes

General	Much useful information in the Ligos Indeo FAQ.
History

Format specifications

• See Disclosure under Sustainability factors.

Useful references

URLs

• Indeo product information (http://www.ligos.com). from the Ligos Corporation
• FAQ (http://ligos.com/pdf_docs/Indeo_FAQ.pdf). from the Ligos Corporation
• Documentation (http://ligos.com/pdf_docs/Indeo_doc.pdf). from the Ligos Corporation
• Information from Apple (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=60366). (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=60366)
• John McGowan's AVI Overview: Audio and Video Codecs (http://www.jmcgowan.com/avicodecs.html). .
• Microsoft registry (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa372553.aspx). of FOURCC codes and WAVE format indicators . The archived 2001 version of this registry is at http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/archive/fourcc.mspx.