DivX

:This article is about the video codec DivX. For the pay-per-view DVD system, see DIVX.

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DivX® is a video codec created by DivX, Inc. (formerly DivXNetworks, Inc.), regarded for its ability to compress lengthy video segments into small sizes while maintaining relatively high visual quality. DivX uses lossy MPEG-4 Part 2 compression, where quality is balanced against file size for utility. It is one of several codecs commonly associated with ripping, where audio and video multimedia are transfered to a hard disk and transcoded. As a result, DivX has been a center of controversy because of its use in the replication and distribution of copyrighted DVDs.

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Many newer "DivX Certified" DVD players are able to play DivX encoded movies, however, "DivX" is not to be confused with "DIVX", an unrelated attempt at a new DVD rental system employed by the US retailer Circuit City. Early versions of DivX included only a codec, and were named "DivX ;-)", where the winking emoticon was a tongue-in-cheek reference to the failed DIVX system.

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