Please help: Why JMF does't play .avi video clip?

Question

The player doesn't play .avi media file, or plays sound only, but it works fine when palying .mpg files, anything I need to pay attention to when using the following code to generate a player to play video clips?
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.io.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.media.*;
public class PlayClip extends JFrame {
//singliton design pattern
private static PlayClip instance;
protected Player player;
private File file= new File ("goal.avi");
private PlayClip () {
instance=null;
initComponents();
public static PlayClip getInstance(){
if (instance==null)
instance=new PlayClip ();
return instance;
private void initComponents() {
JButton OK = new JButton ("OK");
OK.addActionListener (
new ActionListener () {
public void actionPerformed (ActionEvent e) {
player.close ();
instance = null;
dispose();
getContentPane ().add (OK, BorderLayout.NORTH);
setSize (300, 300);
show ();
createPlayer ();
/** Creates new form PlayClip */
private void createPlayer () {
if (file == null) {
return;
removePreviousPlayer ();
try {
//create a new player and add listener
player = Manager.createPlayer (file.toURL () );
player.addControllerListener (new EventHandler () );
player.start (); //start player
catch (Exception e) {
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog (this, "Invalid file or location", "Error loading file", JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE );
System.exit (1);
private void removePreviousPlayer () {
if (player == null )
return;
player.close ();
Component visual = player.getVisualComponent ();
Component control = player.getControlPanelComponent ();
Container c = getContentPane ();
if (visual != null)
c.remove (visual);
if (control !=null)
c.remove (control);
private class EventHandler implements ControllerListener {
public void controllerUpdate (ControllerEvent e) {
if (e instanceof RealizeCompleteEvent ) {
Container c = getContentPane ();
Component visualComponent = player.getVisualComponent ();
if (visualComponent != null)
c.add (visualComponent, BorderLayout.CENTER);
Component controlsComponent = player.getControlPanelComponent ();
if (controlsComponent != null)
c.add (controlsComponent, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
c.doLayout ();
}

Answer 1

JDunlop,
thanks for your quick reply to my java.sun.com forum posting! i just got back from vacation, so i didn't get a chance to try your method til now. i pulled your email address off the website to update you on my problem playing an avi file in JMStudio (JMF).
as per your instructions, i downloaded the divx player at www.divx.com and tried to play the avi file. this is the error the divx player gives:
Divx Player 2.1
The file contains unknown video data
The file contains the following type of data:
Video data: FOURCC code "MP42"
You may need to install a new video codec on your computer to watch this video
Some quick questions:
1. Where could I find the "MP42" codec to play my avi file in JMStudio (JMF)? Does java.sun.com have video codecs?
2. You mentioned in your posting "If you don't have the one that was used in the encoding, your out of luck." Does this mean that I need to know how the avi file was originally coded and have the original codec to decode (play) it?
Thanks,
lac410
P.S. If you need more Duke Dollars for your help, I'd be happy to award them to you.
Re: Please help: Why JMF does't play .avi video clip?
Author: JDunlop Jun 5, 2003 5:00 AM
sounds to me like you are missing a video codecs. If you don't have the one that was used in the encoding, your out of luck. Download the player from divx.com, it will tell you which codecs the video needs (if it won't play). You can then search the net for that particular codecs.