## Introduction to DirectShow

Microsoft® DirectShow™ is an extensible media architecture that delivers high-quality audio and video playback from the Internet or an intranet. DirectShow supports the most popular media types, including MPEG audio and video, AVI video, WAV audio, MIDI audio, and Apple® QuickTime® video. You can access the DirectShow-supported media types quickly and easily by using the Microsoft ActiveMovie™ Control.

The DirectShow architecture defines how applications can control and process time-stamped multimedia data using modular components called filters connected in a configuration called a filter graph. A complete filter graph consists of a number of filters, assembled in a logical progression from the data source to the media renderer or renderers.

Applications assemble the filter graph and control how data moves through it by accessing the filter graph manager through programming interfaces, as shown in the following illustration.

For example, the Microsoft MPEG filter graph uses the following filters.

- A source filter to read the data off the disk
- A splitter transform filter to separate the video and audio
- A video transform filter to decompress the video data
- A video rendering filter to display the data on the screen
- An audio transform filter to decompress the audio data
- An audio rendering filter to send the audio data to the sound card

Default filter graphs are configured for you when you install the DirectShow software on your computer. You can also install additional filters and create your own filter graphs. For more information about creating and managing filter graphs, see Filter Graph Manager and Filter Graphs in the DirectShow SDK documentation.

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