Since reading videos into Excire Foto and playing them with the built-in player are based on different technologies, it can happen that videos do not receive preview images and cannot be analyzed, but can be played. It can also happen that videos receive preview images and are analyzed, but cannot be played.
Most video formats are container formats, which in turn can contain various codecs. With some container formats, the different codecs are supported to varying degrees.
Basically, we use the functions of the operating system to generate the preview images. This means that we can always generate preview images if the Windows or macOS system video player can play a video and the file browser displays a preview image for the video. The player built into Excire Photo is independent of this and supports the same videos and codecs on both operating systems.
HEVC
On Windows, the HEVC codec requires the "HEVC Video Extensions", which can be purchased and installed in the Microsoft Store
(Link).
If the HEVC video extension is installed after videos have been added to Excire Photo, then "Build previews for photo(s)" must be initiated once for these videos.
HDR
HDR videos are generally not supported under Windows. For some HDR videos, Excire Foto is able to create a preview image and analyze it. However, this is not the case for most HDR videos. It is possible to obtain their support under Windows by installing a codec package (e.g. K-Lite Codec Pack). However, this does not affect the support in Excire Foto.
Overview
Here is an (incomplete) overview of supported video file formats:
Format | Preview images and analysis |
mp4 | Yes |
mov | Yes |
avi | Windows: Yes
macOS: No |
| 3gp | Yes |
| mpeg | Yes |
m4v | Yes |
mkv | Windows: Yes
macOS: No |
webm | Windows: Yes
macOS: No |
wmv | Windows: Yes
macOS: No |
Here is an (incomplete) overview of supported video codecs:| Codec | Preview images and analysis | Embedded player |
H.263 | Windows: Yes
macOS: No | No |
| H.264/MPEG-4 AVC | Yes | Yes |
| H.265/HEVC (8-bit) | Windows: with HEVC video extension macOS: Yes | Yes |
| H.265/HEVC HDR (10-bit) | Windows: No
macOS: Yes | Yes |
AV1 | Windows: Yes
macOS: No | Yes |
| Apple ProRes | Windows: No
macOS: Yes | No |
VP8 | Windows: Yes
macOS: No | Yes |
VP9 | Windows: Yes
macOS: No | Yes |
| MPEG-2 | Yes | Yes |
| MJPEG | Windows: Yes
macOS: No | No |
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