One area that never ceases to confuse people is the history and bad blood that exists between the DivX company and its rival, Xvid. Eagle eyed readers will have probably noted that there is a striking degree of similarity between the name of the two companies and this is entirely intentional, serving as a reminder of the close bond that the members of both organisations once had. The bitter irony here is that it is precisely that closeness that now drives them further apart.

The DivX codec initially began its life as a ripped file from the Microsoft MPEG-4 Version 2 video codec and then later was remade entirely from scratch (allegedly) by the DivX company. Up until this period of time, DivX codec had been entirely free of charge, and the proposals to make it a commercial product infuriated many of the development team. Therefore, in order to maintain true to the original roots of the program, they left the DivX project and sought to develop the software on their own.

The key difference between the DivX and Xvid companies is that where as the DivX seeks to charge a fee for their services (and a rather steep one at that) the Xvid company is quite content to offer their services for free. If you  are wondering as to why on earth the Xvid company would provide their hard work for nothing, the answer is simple: to prove themselves superior to their former friends and colleagues at DivX as well as cut into their profit margins. Revenge is sweet!

Rota is hailed as an inventor, indeed, THE inventor of DivX. However, beneath this superficial truth lies a much darker and altogether unpleasant reality, in that whilst yes, Rota did have a part to play in the process, he was by no stretch of the imagination the lynchpin upon which the DivX codec stands so resolutely upon.

Starting off with an illegally obtained software program that he “borrowed” from Microsoft, Rota then proceeded to seek to effectively launder his ill gotten toy and then in 2001 released a brand new version of the stolen work. Up until 2001, Rota had been assisted to a very significant degree by the open source community with collaborators from across the world all pitching in in order to ensure the timely completion of the DivX codec.

As the work reached near completion, how did Rota reward his faithful subjects? He closed down access to the sites upon which all work for the DivX 4.0(as it would later become known as) and then proceeded to commercialise work that was not his. It seems that Rota has made a career of profiting from other peoples hard work and products.  It would seem that his victims have had the last laugh however, for whilst his precious DivX codec has struggled to keep up with the times, open source options have managed to do just that.

The name Jerome Rota is synonymous with the now (in)famous DivX video codec and with good reason: it is Rota who was the mastermind behind the initial conception and subsequent development of the DivX codec. Originally, the DivX codec was nothing more than a skilfully (not to mention illicitly) acquired extract of the Microsoft MPEG-4 Version 2 video codec, with a few modifications implemented at Mr Rota’s discretion.

As news of his accomplishment travelled, more and more software developers provided their input and creative talents towards the enterprise. In an ironic turn of events, these contributions ended up surpassing the power and capabilities of DivX ;-) 3.11 Alpha codec , the codec which Mr Rota had devised as the copy of the Microsoft codec.  The vast majority of these contributions allowed a great deal more functionality than the DivX ;-) 3.11 Alpha codec.

Realising that his beloved DivX ;-) 3.11 Alpha codec could be harnessed for a significant monetary gain, Mr Rota decided that he would form his own company, and then market his own codec, which he duly dubbed DivX 4.0 and which was retailed as a commercial product, i.e. fees were levied for it usage. To the anger of many, the DivX 4.0 codec was actually the aggregate of the collective efforts of thousands of dedicated and skilled software developers, who then saw their work snatched away and then sealed from their grasp forever by virtue of copyright law.

Emboldened and inspired by Rota’s evident skill and ability, shortly after the news of Rota’s deed had been broadcasted there was a plethora of different skilled hobbyists across the world all determined to make compact, lightweight and efficient plugins and expansions to the basic DivX codec (or DivX ;-) 3.11 Alpha codec as it was known as back then).

Just three years after he had made his mark on the software industry, Rota then established his own software development company, and so the founding of the company was not the only fresh start that Rota introduced. Rather than continue retailing and distributing the DivX ;-) 3.11 Alpha codec, especially given that it was for all intents and purposes an illegally acquired and distributed copy of a legitimate software program, Rota designed what he called DivX 4.0.

To some cynics, both in 2001 and even to this day contend that DivX 4.0 codec was nothing more than the DivX ;-) 3.11 Alpha codec with a new moniker. However, the key difference here is that the DivX 4.0 codec was designed entirely anew and no longer relied on the input of the Microsoft based codec thereby meaning that the DivX 4.0 codec could safely be promoted and distributed without fear of legal backlash or censure.  Thus seemingly small change to the name, would herald in a significant amount of further improvement for the codec.

1)      It allows for a highly efficient compression process which shrinks large video files into extremely small sizes.

2)      It achieve #1 whilst maintaining an astonishing clear and crisp quality of audio as well as video content.

What made the DivX codec so special when it first came out was that it actually managed to accomplish what so many others had before it, tried to do with little to no success. Sadly, many such codecs forced the user to make a stark choice between either quality, or the size of the file in question.

Just to clear up an issue that time and time again manages to catch people out,  the term “DivX” is used to refer to both the DivX codec, and also to a media system which was designed to revolutionise the way in which copyright access was permitted, but which subsequently died a death.

The DivX codec was the brainchild of a French software cracker by the name of Jerome Rota who as the story goes, was extremely frustrated whenever he attempted to use the MPEG-4 Version 3 video codec released by Microsoft and was especially irked by virtue of the fact that the Microsoft video codec was not compatible with the later editions of media programs such as Microsoft Windows Media player.

The major Achilles Heel of the Microsoft video codec was that it did not actually enable MPEG-4 files to be loaded or used in conjunction with this and so Rota with the assistance of a fellow software cracker, decided that it was high time to remedy this.