What formats does the MediaElement support?

Question

In C# what formats does the MediaElement support?

Solution

Below is a rollup list of formats codecs supported by the MediaElement. These encodings are supported regardless of the file name extension.

Source: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc189080(v=vs.95).aspx

• Video
  • Raw Video
  • RGBA format
    • Uncompressed 32 bit Alpha Red, Green, Blue.
    • On Windows Phone 7, the alpha channel is ignored.
  • YV12 format- YCrCb(4:2:0)
    • Uncompressed YCrCb(4:2:0).
    • Not supported on Windows Phone 7.
  • RGBA - 32 bit Alpha Red, Green, Blue
  • Windows Media Video and VC-1 formatsWMV1: Windows Media Video 7
    • Supports Simple, Main, and Advanced Profiles.
    • Supports only progressive (non-interlaced) content.
  • WMV2: Windows Media Video 8
  • WMV3: Windows Media Video 9
    • Supports Simple and Main Profiles.
    • Supports only progressive (non-interlaced) content.
  • WMVA: Windows Media Video Advanced Profile, non-VC-1
  • WVC1: Windows Media Video Advanced Profile, VC-1
    • Supports Advanced Profile.
    • Supports only progressive (non-interlaced) content.
  • H264 (ITU-T H.264 / ISO MPEG-4 AVC) formats
    • Supports H.264 and MP43 codecs.
    • Supports Base, Main, and High Profiles.
    • Windows Phone 7 supports up to Level 3.0.
    • Note that level 3.0 defines the maximum supported resolution for 30fps as 720x480. Other frame rates have different maximum supported resolutions.
    • Supports only progressive (non-interlaced) content.
    • Supports only 4:2:0 chroma subsampling profiles.
    • Desktop Silverlight only supports the Annex B NAL format (i.e. start codes).
    • Note, that media libraries, such as the SmoothStreamingMediaElement, support the AVC NAL format by programmatically converting AVC NALs to Annex B NALs. As Silverlight supports partial encryption of H.264 samples, this conversion can occur on encrypted content as well if the NAL headers are not encrypted. The Annex B NAL format is described in MPEG-4 Part 10.
    • Supports PlayReady DRM with Mp4 (H264 and AAC-LC)
  • H.263 format
    • Not supported by desktop versions of Silverlight.
    • Not supported by the MediaStreamSource class in Windows Phone 7.
  • MPEG-4 Part 2 format
    • Supports Simple and Advanced Profiles.
• Audio
  • PCM / WAV format"1". This is Linear 8 or 16 bit Pulse Code Modulation. Roughly speaking, this is WAV format.
    • This is Linear 8 or 16 bit Pulse Code Modulation. Roughly speaking, this is WAV format.
  • Microsoft Windows Media Audio Standard formats."353" - Microsoft Windows Media Audio v7, v8 and v9.x Standard (WMA Standard)
  • Microsoft Windows Media Audio Professional formats."354" - Microsoft Windows Media Audio v9.x and v10 Professional (WMA Professional)
    • Supports full fidelity decoding of WMA 10 Professional Low Bit Rate (LBR) modes in the 32-96 kbps range.
    • Multichannel (5.1 and 7.1 surround) audio content is automatically mixed down to stereo.
    • 24 bit audio will return silence.
    • Sampling Rates beyond 48000 return an invalid format error code in same-domain and a 4001 in cross-domain scenarios.
  • MP3 "85" -– (ISO MPEG-1 Layer III) format (MP3).
  • AAC"255" - (ISO Advanced Audio Coding) (AAC)format.
    • Supports Low Complexity (AAC-LC) decoding at full fidelity (up to 48 kHz).
    • High Efficiency (HE-AAC) encoded content. will decode only at half fidelity (up to 24 kHz).
      1. HE-AAC v1 (AAC+) and HE-AAC v2 (eAAC+) supported.
      2. Desktop Silverlight will decode only at half fidelity (up to 24 kHz).
    • Multichannel (5.1 surround) audio content is not supported.
  • AMR-NB (Adaptive Multi-Rate Narrow Band) format
    • Not supported by desktop versions of Silverlight.
    • Not supported by the MediaStreamSource class.
• Additional Restrictions
  • The following codec formats are not supported on any Silverlight platform:
    • Windows Media Screen
    • Windows Media Audio Professional Lossless
    • Windows Media Voice
  • Windows Phone 7 does not support dynamic changes in video frame size

Comments

[Jermain Defo]

Thanks! If I was to create an animation for my app, which format would be best?

[Nikolay Kostov]

Ask another question. Comments are only for clarifing and are not for answers neither for questions :)