Take the 2-minute tour ×  I'm sending a movie via email.  Will a
file encoded with the ffmpeg's option libx264, be able to play
back natively in Windows 8 without any external software?
ffmpeg -i in.avi -vcodec libx264 out.avi share|improve this
question AFAIK WMP, even with the Media Center Pack, does not
support H.264 MKVs. Never has (not unless a codec pack with the
required splitter etc. is installed). Don't think the Store
Video app can handle MKVs either. H.264 MP4s should play back
fine though. –  Karan Nov 6 '12 at 17:29 Is there any particular
ffmpeg cmd line you are using, or do you want help in crafting
one? Mp4 is a good container to use. –  askvictor Nov 8 '12 at
10:30 A codec will provide the algorithm for encoding the video
(and a separate codec will do audio). A container does several
things - it interleaves the audio and video (perhaps many
streams of each, and subtitles), it adds information to allow
the decoder to recover if the stream is corrupted (scratched
disc, noisy transmission). Mp4