Belgium-based Happy Machines has announced the release of a new preview version of its 3ivx video compression codec. This is the first release to include a free personal test encoder, as well as a version designed to work on Mac OS X.
3ivx is a video compression system that is compliant with MPEG-4v3. The codec is available for multiple operating systems, including Windows, Mac OS, Linux, UNIX, BeOS and Amiga. Happy Machines indicates that 3ivx maintains DVD or MPEG-2-like quality while maintaining a very high comparative compression ratio (1:13).
The most recent preview version of the 3ivx code sports new features, including:
Happy Machines makes three separate versions of the codec available: a free test version, a US$10 version for personal use, and a $400 version suitable for commercial use. Visit the 3ivx Web site for more information.