Supported Media Codecs for Windows Phone

[Note: This topic contains pre-release information and is subject to change in future releases. Blank topics are included as placeholders. References to "Beta" refer to the current version of Windows Phone Developer Tools and references to "Technical Preview" refer to the current version of Windows Phone OS 7.0 and Windows Phone 7.]
7/12/2010

Windows Phone provides support for the following audio and video codecs in the below scenarios:

Codec Type


Decoder Support


Container


Max Resolution and FPS


Supported Scenarios

Audio


WAV


WAV


N/A


*

Receiving files as attachments in email and MMS messages
*

Using XNA sound effects (PCM only)
*

Playing media with the MediaElement API
*

Playing media in the device Media Player
*

Viewing media in Internet Explorer Mobile

Audio


MP3


MP3


N/A


*

Receiving files as attachments in email and MMS messages
*

Syncing content from the Zune client to the device MediaLibrary
*

Enumerating media from the MediaLibrary using the XNA Framework
*

Playing media with the MediaElement API
*

Playing media in the device Media Player
*

Viewing media in Internet Explorer Mobile

Audio


WMA Standard v9


ASF (WMA)


N/A


*

Receiving files as attachments in email and MMS messages
*

Syncing content from the Zune client to the device MediaLibrary
*

Enumerating media from the MediaLibrary using the XNA Framework
*

Playing media with the MediaElement API
*

Playing media in the device Media Player
*

Viewing media in Internet Explorer Mobile

Audio


AAC-LC (Low Complexity)


3GP, 3G2, MP4, M4A


N/A


*

Receiving files as attachments in email and MMS messages (MMS does not support M4A)
*

Syncing content from the Zune client to the device MediaLibrary
*

Enumerating media from the MediaLibrary using the XNA Framework
*

Playing media with the MediaElement API
*

Playing media in the device Media Player
*

Viewing media in Internet Explorer Mobile
*

Videos captured using the device camera (as an MP4 file) will have their audio stream encoded as this codec type

Audio


HE-AAC v1 (AAC+)


3GP, 3G2, MP4, M4A


N/A


*

Receiving files as attachments in email and MMS messages (MMS does not support M4A)
*

Playing media with the MediaElement API
*

Playing media in the device Media Player
*

Viewing media in Internet Explorer Mobile

Audio


HE-AAC v2 (eAAC+)


3GP, 3G2, MP4, M4A


N/A


*

Receiving files as attachments in email and MMS messages (MMS does not support M4A)
*

Playing media with the MediaElement API
*

Playing media in the device Media Player
*

Viewing media in Internet Explorer Mobile

Audio


Adaptive Multi-Rate Narrow Band (AMR-NB)


3GP, 3G2, MP4


N/A


*

Receiving files as attachments in email and MMS messages

Video


WMV (VC-1) - Simple Profile


ASF (WMV)


800 x 600 pixels at 30 fps


*

Receiving files as attachments in email and MMS messages
*

Syncing content from the Zune client to the device MediaLibrary
*

Enumerating media from the MediaLibrary using the XNA Framework
*

Playing media with the MediaElement API
*

Playing media in the device Media Player
*

Viewing media in Internet Explorer Mobile

Video


WMV (VC-1) - Main Profile


ASF (WMV)


800 x 600 pixels at 30 fps


*

Receiving files as attachments in email and MMS messages
*

Syncing content from the Zune client to the device MediaLibrary
*

Enumerating media from the MediaLibrary using the XNA Framework
*

Playing media with the MediaElement API
*

Playing media in the device Media Player
*

Viewing media in Internet Explorer Mobile

Video


WMV (VC-1) - Advanced Profile


ASF (WMV)


800 x 600 pixels at 30 fps


*

Receiving files as attachments in email and MMS messages
*

Syncing content from the Zune client to the device MediaLibrary
*

Enumerating media from the MediaLibrary using the XNA Framework
*

Playing media with the MediaElement API
*

Playing media in the device Media Player

Video


MPEG-4 Part 2 - Simple Profile


3GP, 3G2, MP4, AVI


800 x 600 pixels (720p for HD capture devices) at 30 fps


*

Receiving files as attachments in email and MMS messages (MMS does not support AVI)
*

Syncing content from the Zune client to the device MediaLibrary
*

Enumerating media from the MediaLibrary using the XNA Framework
*

Playing media with the MediaElement API
*

Playing media in the device Media Player
*

Viewing media in Internet Explorer Mobile
*

Capturing video using the device camera (as an MP4 file). If the video resolution is 720p, it will be encoded as this codec type

Video


MPEG-4 Part 10 (MPEG-4 AVC, H.264) Level 3.0 - Baseline Profile


3GP, 3G2, MP4, M4V


720 x 480 pixels at 30 fps

720 x 576 pixels at 25 fps


*

Receiving files as attachments in email and MMS messages
*

Syncing content from the Zune client to the device MediaLibrary
*

Enumerating media from the MediaLibrary using the XNA Framework
*

Playing media with the MediaElement API
*

Playing media in the device Media Player
*

Viewing media in Internet Explorer Mobile
*

Capturing video using the device camera (as an MP4 file). If the video resolution is any supported resolution less than 720p, it will be encoded as this codec type

Video


MPEG-4 Part 10 (MPEG-4 AVC, H.264) Level 3.0 - Main Profile


3GP, 3G2, MP4, M4V


720 x 480 pixels at 30 fps

720 x 576 pixels at 25 fps


*

Receiving files as attachments in email and MMS messages
*

Syncing content from the Zune client to the device MediaLibrary
*

Enumerating media from the MediaLibrary using the XNA Framework
*

Playing media with the MediaElement API
*

Playing media in the device Media Player
*

Viewing media in Internet Explorer Mobile

Video


MPEG-4 Part 10 (MPEG-4 AVC, H.264) Level 3.0 - High Profile


3GP, 3G2, MP4, M4V


720 x 480 pixels at 30 fps

720 x 576 pixels at 25 fps


*

Receiving files as attachments in Email and MMS messages
*

Enumerating media from the MediaLibrary using the XNA Framework
*

Playing media with the MediaElement API
*

Playing media in the device Media Player
*

Viewing media in Internet Explorer Mobile

Video


H.263


3GP, 3G2


800 x 480 pixels at 30 fps


*

Receiving files as attachments in Email and MMS messages
*

Playing media in the device Media Player
*

Viewing media in Internet Explorer Mobile

Images


JPEG


JPG


N/A


*

Sending and receiving pictures as attachments in email and MMS messages
*

Viewing pictures from email or MMS messages
*

Saving pictures from email or MMS messages to the device (saved to the device as JPG)
*

Syncing content from the Zune client to the device MediaLibrary
*

Capturing pictures using the device camera (saved to the device as JPG)
*

Viewing media in Internet Explorer Mobile
*

Use as wallpaper
*

Changing background of Pictures hub
*

Uploading or sharing pictures to social networks
*

Downloading pictures from social networks to the device

Images


PNG


PNG


N/A


*

Receiving files as attachments in email and MMS messages
*

Viewing pictures from email or MMS messages
*

Saving pictures from email or MMS messages to the device (saved to the device as JPG)
*

Enumerating media from the MediaLibrary using the XNA Framework
*

Viewing media in Internet Explorer Mobile

Images


GIF (both GIF87a and GIF89a)


GIF


N/A


*

Receiving files as attachments in email and MMS messages
*

Viewing pictures from email or MMS messages
*

Saving pictures from email or MMS messages to the device (saved to the device as JPG)
*

Viewing media in Internet Explorer Mobile

Images


BMP


BMP


N/A


*

Receiving files as attachments in email and MMS messages
*

Viewing pictures from email or MMS messages
*

Saving pictures from email or MMS messages to the device (saved to the device as JPG)
*

Viewing media in Internet Explorer Mobile

Images


TIF


TIF


N/A


*

Receiving files as attachments in email
*

Viewing pictures from email
*

Saving single-page pictures from email to the device (saved to the device as JPG)