Help us keep the list up to date and submit new video software here.
Try StreamFab Downloader and download streaming video from Netflix, Amazon, Youtube! Download free trial.
Complete Version history / Release notes / Changelog / What's New for Media Preview
Media Preview v1.4.3.429 (04/13/2014)
Mini-me release:
Core
Better handling of camcorder recorded video files by getting actual thumbnails instead of grey images
Installer
Do not reset settings upon upgrading anymore (it won't work if you upgrade from 1.4.2 to 1.4.3 as uninstall is still handle by 1.4.2, but it will work when upgrading from 1.4.3)
Overall size reduced by nearly 10% (16.1MB to 14.7MB)
Media Preview v1.4.2.417 (03/30/2014)
Minor release:
Core
Fixed the bug where Media Preview was crashing when selecting Luma Bicubic / Chroma Bilinear as the scaling method
Media Preview v1.4.1.415 (03/17/2014)
Mending release:
Core
WinXP only: fixed a memory leak that didn't let users move or delete media files
Fixed debug output generation to avoid issues unrelated to Media Preview processing
Configuration tool
Added command line options to easily register Media Preview with any kinds of supported file formats
Media Preview v1.4.0.404 (03/09/2014)
Multimedia release:
Core
Upgraded LAVF FFmpeg to repository state as of 03/09/2014
Improved support of video file formats:
Fixed a memory leak while processing cover arts
Added support for cover art embedded in mkv files
Added official support for several video file formats (bink, smk, wtv and dvr-ms)
Added support for H.265/HEVC and VP9 codecs
Added support for iPhone mp4 auto-rotation / orientation
Improved decoding of interlaced VC-1 and Lagarith encoded files particularly, but also of H.264/AVC encoded files
Optimized thumbnail generation to achieve a good speed boost when disabling Entropy
Windows 8 and 8.1 only: thumbnail generation was really too slow on these platforms, but got a huge speed boost after optimization
Added support for cover art embedded in audio files
Added support of common image file formats:
Correct transparency display
Faster thumbnail generation
Support of jpeg auto-rotation / orientation when Windows allows it
Fixed a potential memory leak while processing swf files
Installer
Unified everything into a single installer
Can now be displayed with all the languages already supported by the configuration tool
Fixed a bug where the installer could re-install an old version instead of the expected version when upgrading
Configuration tool
Added new tabs to easily select audio and image file formats
Added "live testing" support for audio and image files
Added the ability to change thumbnail adornment in the advanced options
Improved the file association engine to replace other third-party thumbnailers
Enabled filling up thumbnail cache for network drives
Added a convenient "Remove All" button for user defined format listings
Improved user defined format browsing feature: automatic scanning can now be stopped mid-way
Added Italian translation, thanks Luca!
Improved handling of grammar number rules, particularly useful for languages having more complex name declension systems than the dual singular/plural rule
1.3.2 beta2
Fixed bugs:
-Common audio file formats doesn't work on Windows 8 yet
-Support for common audio and image file formats on WinXP/Vista/7 is enabled by manually adding them as User Defined Extensions (bottom part of the File Formats tab). Better User Interface to follow soon
-If a file format is registered in Windows with the wrong PerceivedType, Media Preview may not generate any thumb for it
-[regression] MKVs embedding font files don't get any thumb when cover art enabled
New stuff:
-Robust system to enable support of new format categories (applied to audio and image formats).
-Support of every audio formats with cover art embedding capabilities.
-Support of the most common image formats.
-Added some video formats (bink, wtv, dvr-ms and a few others).
-Jpeg auto-rotate / orientation partially supported (see bug section).
-The config tool now enables to easily select audio and image formats through their dedicated tabs.
-The config tool also supports "live testing" of audio and image formats.
1.3.2 beta1
New stuff:
-Better support of wmv / asf files
-Fix cover art for wmv
-Add cover art for mkv
-Fix memory leak while processing cover arts
-common image file formats:
--Support real transparency for .bmp (MS: black background), .tga (MS: grey background) on Vista+
--Add support for .jpg (faster), .bmp (really faster), .tga (bit slower)
--Other image formats not extensively tested yet (.gif, .pcx, .png)
-common audio file formats:
--Add support for .flac, .ape, .mp3 (do the same as MS thumbnailer), .m4a (do the same as MS thumbnailer)
--Other audio formats not extensively tested yet (.wv, .wma)
Media Preview v1.3.1.343 (02/05/2013)
Patch release:
Core
Fixed regressions due to the missing C runtime. It should henceforth really be unneeded now...
Installer
x64 OS only: fixed the desktop shortcut link
Media Preview v1.3.0.341 (02/04/2013)
Windows 8 release:
Core
Full support of Windows 8
Support of *.swf and *.xvid file formats
Added an option to display embedded cover art instead of a random video frame for *.wmv, *.mp4 and their derivatives (the only area where the vanilla MS thumbnailer was still better at!)
Fixed 2 bugs in luminance computation
In a special case, color components could be misinterpreted
Blue color component was never taken into account (no improvement for cartoons, better mostly for live video sequences)
Upgraded LAVF FFmpeg to repository state as of 02/04/2013
Removed dependency to the C runtime
WinXP only: thumbnails are now generated even for non-ASCII filenames (this bug was triggered for all non-English characters)
Installer
Support silent install, i.e. without having the configuration tool being launched during installation
Localized installer into English, French and Simplified Chinese, so there are 3 different installers now
x64 OS only: now install the x86/Win32 version of MP along the x64 version to fix thumbnail generation for x86 processes within x64 systems
Configuration tool
Added command line options to register / unregister Media Preview for every supported file formats (simply append /Register or /Unregister)
Activated the 3rd mode in Test & Cache tab, thumbnails can now be extracted into *.png files
Chosen display language is now memorized, quite useful for those working on an English OS but having a different native tongue
Added translations to Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese and Traditional Chinese. Thanks to Muhammad, Igor and Newgene01!
Added a button in the Advanced tab to force Windows Explorer to take into account the thumbnail adornment parameters for every MP configured file formats
The size editbox in Test & Cache is now a more user-friendly editable combobox
Media Preview v1.2.5.264 (06/18/2012)
Rock-solid release:
Improved the robustness of the core to handle more edge cases without reporting any error to the shell
Modified the advanced options of the config tool as followed:
Improved thumbnail adornment overlay management in order to avoid any side-effects on Media Center-like applications
Added the option to disable file type overlay on thumbnails
Media Preview v1.2.4.253 (06/13/2012)
User request release:
Improved badly encoded file processing to further avoid black frames
The version of LAVF FFmpeg used until now was actually still the version as of 04/10/2012...so updated it as of 06/13/2012:
This fixes a bug where some DVD VOB files could be recognized as a VC-1 encoded file instead of MPEG-2, leading to an unrecoverable error
Patched it to let FFmpeg extract images from interlaced VC-1 encoded video file even if we get some grey clouds instead of a complete image
Added some functions to the config tool:
Windows XP only: users can change thumbnail size using Tweak UI. The Testing and Cache tab now has an option to handle this Tweak UI parameter
Windows Vista+ only: The Testing and Cache tab has a new button that forces Media Preview to search for every media files on local drives, generate thumbnails, and cache them. Handy for users having a lot of often updated partitions filled with video files!
Added some common sound file formats to the user-defined format blacklist
Now forbid to add already supported formats through the user-defined format manual input
Fixed several minor live testing related bugs
Fixed a bug that could result in not launching any clearing cache operation while searching for still opened folders
Included German translation. Thanks Kai!
Included Russian translation. Thanks Долматов!
Media Preview v1.2.3.217 (05/28/2012)
Ergonomics release:
Fixed an edge case where a very short clip could not get any thumbnail
Now fully compatible with other Explorer-like applications, e.g. Total Commander
Added full support of *.mpe files
Upgraded LAVF FFmpeg to repository state as of 05/28/2012
Revamp the config tool a bit for better ergonomics:
Added tooltips whenever useful information was needed
Scaling methods are now put along a speed-quality slider
Enabled the "restore default system settings" button
Changed live testing as follows:
Fixed a performance slowdown, accumulating with each display language switch
Fixed a memory leak
Can show various side-by-side comparisons
Processes files faster on Win7+
Works the same way on XP and Vista+: only updates requested thumbnails instead of deleting the entire Thumbs.db cache file
Added an Advanced tab with features for power users and developers
Fully complied to Libavcodec LGPL licence and changed Media Preview licencing terms
Remains free for non-commercial use
Redistribution is forbidden without permission (it's mainly a way for me to trace where the app get uploaded)
Repackaging is forbidden without permission (I saw a portable version floating around, which is a nonsense for an app that must be integrated to the system...)
Again, special thanks to the administrator of Codec Guide for his numerous feedbacks. I also want to acknowledge JEEB, one of the administrators at CCCP for reminding me that proper software licencing does matter.
Media Preview v1.2.2.169 (05/01/2012)
Hotfix release: A user reported that the live testing feature made the configuration tool to crash on 32-bit editions of Windows Vista+. Well, not anymore :)
Media Preview v1.2.1.167 (04/30/2012)
Completed release:
Thumbnail generation is now based on display aspect ratio instead of storage aspect ratio
Added full support for most of the existing media file formats on the market (notably 3G mobile phones, DVD-Video and Blu-ray dedicated formats)
Media Preview no longer reports error to the shell when processing corrupt, damaged or incomplete files, e.g. files still being downloaded through peer to peer means, but try its best to extract something out of them
Completed the implementation of all the functionalities of the configuration tool, apart from a minor one:
Added scaling method to the setting items
Easily change file association
Run live testing of configuration changes
Upgraded LAVF FFmpeg to repository state as of 04/30/2012
Media Preview v1.2.0.115 (04/16/2012)
Enhanced release:
Disabled DirectX acceleration (no big processing improvement but problems with low-end graphics card drivers)
Better support of Windows XP by enabling thumbnail cache for local drives
Improved metrics calculation resulting in faster processing (notably for virtual machines under Windows 8 CP)
Media Preview is now entirely configurable
Media Preview now comes with a configuration tool, to allow you to speed up thumbnail generation if you still find it slow. Some functionalities of the tool are currently disabled and should be implemented in the next version.
Media Preview v1.1.1.86 (04/10/2012)
eXPerience release:
Switched from Libav to FFmpeg (latest version of the LAV Filters branch):
Better performance thanks to a memory management patch
Better decoding for most of the video formats
Added full support of *.mpg and *.mpeg files
Support of Windows XP
Media Preview v1.1.0.74 (04/08/2012)
Optimization release:
Trimmed Libav from unnecessary encoders, multiplexers and filters, resulting in a nice library downsize of 6 to 1
Activated DirectX hardware acceleration for video stream processing
Upgraded Libav to repository state as of 04/08/2012
Special thanks to the administrator of Codec Guide for giving useful hints on how to recompile FFmpeg.
Media Preview v1.0.1.29 (03/18/2012)
Bugfix release:
Check dependency with Microsoft C runtime library
Upgraded to Libav 0.8.1, fixing some rendering issues
Support of Windows 8
Added full support for *.rmvb files
Media Preview v1.0.0.1 (03/10/2012)
Initial release: Support of Windows Vista and 7. Thumbnail generation with image entropy and average luminance as validation metrics.
Mini-me release:
Core
Better handling of camcorder recorded video files by getting actual thumbnails instead of grey images
Installer
Do not reset settings upon upgrading anymore (it won't work if you upgrade from 1.4.2 to 1.4.3 as uninstall is still handle by 1.4.2, but it will work when upgrading from 1.4.3)
Overall size reduced by nearly 10% (16.1MB to 14.7MB)
Media Preview v1.4.2.417 (03/30/2014)
Minor release:
Core
Fixed the bug where Media Preview was crashing when selecting Luma Bicubic / Chroma Bilinear as the scaling method
Media Preview v1.4.1.415 (03/17/2014)
Mending release:
Core
WinXP only: fixed a memory leak that didn't let users move or delete media files
Fixed debug output generation to avoid issues unrelated to Media Preview processing
Configuration tool
Added command line options to easily register Media Preview with any kinds of supported file formats
Media Preview v1.4.0.404 (03/09/2014)
Multimedia release:
Core
Upgraded LAVF FFmpeg to repository state as of 03/09/2014
Improved support of video file formats:
Fixed a memory leak while processing cover arts
Added support for cover art embedded in mkv files
Added official support for several video file formats (bink, smk, wtv and dvr-ms)
Added support for H.265/HEVC and VP9 codecs
Added support for iPhone mp4 auto-rotation / orientation
Improved decoding of interlaced VC-1 and Lagarith encoded files particularly, but also of H.264/AVC encoded files
Optimized thumbnail generation to achieve a good speed boost when disabling Entropy
Windows 8 and 8.1 only: thumbnail generation was really too slow on these platforms, but got a huge speed boost after optimization
Added support for cover art embedded in audio files
Added support of common image file formats:
Correct transparency display
Faster thumbnail generation
Support of jpeg auto-rotation / orientation when Windows allows it
Fixed a potential memory leak while processing swf files
Installer
Unified everything into a single installer
Can now be displayed with all the languages already supported by the configuration tool
Fixed a bug where the installer could re-install an old version instead of the expected version when upgrading
Configuration tool
Added new tabs to easily select audio and image file formats
Added "live testing" support for audio and image files
Added the ability to change thumbnail adornment in the advanced options
Improved the file association engine to replace other third-party thumbnailers
Enabled filling up thumbnail cache for network drives
Added a convenient "Remove All" button for user defined format listings
Improved user defined format browsing feature: automatic scanning can now be stopped mid-way
Added Italian translation, thanks Luca!
Improved handling of grammar number rules, particularly useful for languages having more complex name declension systems than the dual singular/plural rule
1.3.2 beta2
Fixed bugs:
-Common audio file formats doesn't work on Windows 8 yet
-Support for common audio and image file formats on WinXP/Vista/7 is enabled by manually adding them as User Defined Extensions (bottom part of the File Formats tab). Better User Interface to follow soon
-If a file format is registered in Windows with the wrong PerceivedType, Media Preview may not generate any thumb for it
-[regression] MKVs embedding font files don't get any thumb when cover art enabled
New stuff:
-Robust system to enable support of new format categories (applied to audio and image formats).
-Support of every audio formats with cover art embedding capabilities.
-Support of the most common image formats.
-Added some video formats (bink, wtv, dvr-ms and a few others).
-Jpeg auto-rotate / orientation partially supported (see bug section).
-The config tool now enables to easily select audio and image formats through their dedicated tabs.
-The config tool also supports "live testing" of audio and image formats.
1.3.2 beta1
New stuff:
-Better support of wmv / asf files
-Fix cover art for wmv
-Add cover art for mkv
-Fix memory leak while processing cover arts
-common image file formats:
--Support real transparency for .bmp (MS: black background), .tga (MS: grey background) on Vista+
--Add support for .jpg (faster), .bmp (really faster), .tga (bit slower)
--Other image formats not extensively tested yet (.gif, .pcx, .png)
-common audio file formats:
--Add support for .flac, .ape, .mp3 (do the same as MS thumbnailer), .m4a (do the same as MS thumbnailer)
--Other audio formats not extensively tested yet (.wv, .wma)
Media Preview v1.3.1.343 (02/05/2013)
Patch release:
Core
Fixed regressions due to the missing C runtime. It should henceforth really be unneeded now...
Installer
x64 OS only: fixed the desktop shortcut link
Media Preview v1.3.0.341 (02/04/2013)
Windows 8 release:
Core
Full support of Windows 8
Support of *.swf and *.xvid file formats
Added an option to display embedded cover art instead of a random video frame for *.wmv, *.mp4 and their derivatives (the only area where the vanilla MS thumbnailer was still better at!)
Fixed 2 bugs in luminance computation
In a special case, color components could be misinterpreted
Blue color component was never taken into account (no improvement for cartoons, better mostly for live video sequences)
Upgraded LAVF FFmpeg to repository state as of 02/04/2013
Removed dependency to the C runtime
WinXP only: thumbnails are now generated even for non-ASCII filenames (this bug was triggered for all non-English characters)
Installer
Support silent install, i.e. without having the configuration tool being launched during installation
Localized installer into English, French and Simplified Chinese, so there are 3 different installers now
x64 OS only: now install the x86/Win32 version of MP along the x64 version to fix thumbnail generation for x86 processes within x64 systems
Configuration tool
Added command line options to register / unregister Media Preview for every supported file formats (simply append /Register or /Unregister)
Activated the 3rd mode in Test & Cache tab, thumbnails can now be extracted into *.png files
Chosen display language is now memorized, quite useful for those working on an English OS but having a different native tongue
Added translations to Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese and Traditional Chinese. Thanks to Muhammad, Igor and Newgene01!
Added a button in the Advanced tab to force Windows Explorer to take into account the thumbnail adornment parameters for every MP configured file formats
The size editbox in Test & Cache is now a more user-friendly editable combobox
Media Preview v1.2.5.264 (06/18/2012)
Rock-solid release:
Improved the robustness of the core to handle more edge cases without reporting any error to the shell
Modified the advanced options of the config tool as followed:
Improved thumbnail adornment overlay management in order to avoid any side-effects on Media Center-like applications
Added the option to disable file type overlay on thumbnails
Media Preview v1.2.4.253 (06/13/2012)
User request release:
Improved badly encoded file processing to further avoid black frames
The version of LAVF FFmpeg used until now was actually still the version as of 04/10/2012...so updated it as of 06/13/2012:
This fixes a bug where some DVD VOB files could be recognized as a VC-1 encoded file instead of MPEG-2, leading to an unrecoverable error
Patched it to let FFmpeg extract images from interlaced VC-1 encoded video file even if we get some grey clouds instead of a complete image
Added some functions to the config tool:
Windows XP only: users can change thumbnail size using Tweak UI. The Testing and Cache tab now has an option to handle this Tweak UI parameter
Windows Vista+ only: The Testing and Cache tab has a new button that forces Media Preview to search for every media files on local drives, generate thumbnails, and cache them. Handy for users having a lot of often updated partitions filled with video files!
Added some common sound file formats to the user-defined format blacklist
Now forbid to add already supported formats through the user-defined format manual input
Fixed several minor live testing related bugs
Fixed a bug that could result in not launching any clearing cache operation while searching for still opened folders
Included German translation. Thanks Kai!
Included Russian translation. Thanks Долматов!
Media Preview v1.2.3.217 (05/28/2012)
Ergonomics release:
Fixed an edge case where a very short clip could not get any thumbnail
Now fully compatible with other Explorer-like applications, e.g. Total Commander
Added full support of *.mpe files
Upgraded LAVF FFmpeg to repository state as of 05/28/2012
Revamp the config tool a bit for better ergonomics:
Added tooltips whenever useful information was needed
Scaling methods are now put along a speed-quality slider
Enabled the "restore default system settings" button
Changed live testing as follows:
Fixed a performance slowdown, accumulating with each display language switch
Fixed a memory leak
Can show various side-by-side comparisons
Processes files faster on Win7+
Works the same way on XP and Vista+: only updates requested thumbnails instead of deleting the entire Thumbs.db cache file
Added an Advanced tab with features for power users and developers
Fully complied to Libavcodec LGPL licence and changed Media Preview licencing terms
Remains free for non-commercial use
Redistribution is forbidden without permission (it's mainly a way for me to trace where the app get uploaded)
Repackaging is forbidden without permission (I saw a portable version floating around, which is a nonsense for an app that must be integrated to the system...)
Again, special thanks to the administrator of Codec Guide for his numerous feedbacks. I also want to acknowledge JEEB, one of the administrators at CCCP for reminding me that proper software licencing does matter.
Media Preview v1.2.2.169 (05/01/2012)
Hotfix release: A user reported that the live testing feature made the configuration tool to crash on 32-bit editions of Windows Vista+. Well, not anymore :)
Media Preview v1.2.1.167 (04/30/2012)
Completed release:
Thumbnail generation is now based on display aspect ratio instead of storage aspect ratio
Added full support for most of the existing media file formats on the market (notably 3G mobile phones, DVD-Video and Blu-ray dedicated formats)
Media Preview no longer reports error to the shell when processing corrupt, damaged or incomplete files, e.g. files still being downloaded through peer to peer means, but try its best to extract something out of them
Completed the implementation of all the functionalities of the configuration tool, apart from a minor one:
Added scaling method to the setting items
Easily change file association
Run live testing of configuration changes
Upgraded LAVF FFmpeg to repository state as of 04/30/2012
Media Preview v1.2.0.115 (04/16/2012)
Enhanced release:
Disabled DirectX acceleration (no big processing improvement but problems with low-end graphics card drivers)
Better support of Windows XP by enabling thumbnail cache for local drives
Improved metrics calculation resulting in faster processing (notably for virtual machines under Windows 8 CP)
Media Preview is now entirely configurable
Media Preview now comes with a configuration tool, to allow you to speed up thumbnail generation if you still find it slow. Some functionalities of the tool are currently disabled and should be implemented in the next version.
Media Preview v1.1.1.86 (04/10/2012)
eXPerience release:
Switched from Libav to FFmpeg (latest version of the LAV Filters branch):
Better performance thanks to a memory management patch
Better decoding for most of the video formats
Added full support of *.mpg and *.mpeg files
Support of Windows XP
Media Preview v1.1.0.74 (04/08/2012)
Optimization release:
Trimmed Libav from unnecessary encoders, multiplexers and filters, resulting in a nice library downsize of 6 to 1
Activated DirectX hardware acceleration for video stream processing
Upgraded Libav to repository state as of 04/08/2012
Special thanks to the administrator of Codec Guide for giving useful hints on how to recompile FFmpeg.
Media Preview v1.0.1.29 (03/18/2012)
Bugfix release:
Check dependency with Microsoft C runtime library
Upgraded to Libav 0.8.1, fixing some rendering issues
Support of Windows 8
Added full support for *.rmvb files
Media Preview v1.0.0.1 (03/10/2012)
Initial release: Support of Windows Vista and 7. Thumbnail generation with image entropy and average luminance as validation metrics.