FIX: Windows Media components leak memory when you create custom applications

When you create custom applications that are built on the Windows Media 9 Series Software Development Kit (SDK) and that capture audio and video, you (the developer) may notice a steady increase in memory usage. For example, you notice a steady increase in the use of memory in virtual bytes, private bytes, and working sets.

This problem may occur for one of the following reasons:

• The DirectShow .asf file writer leaks when the SetFileName() method is called without removing the file sink filter from the graph. The memory that is associated with the file name string leaks.
• The Windows Media SDK leaks memory because of the way that media type structures are allocated and freed.

A supported hotfix is now available from Microsoft, but it is only intended to correct the problem that this article describes. Apply it only to systems that are experiencing this specific problem.

To resolve this problem, contact Microsoft Product Support Services to obtain the hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft Product Support Services telephone numbers and information about support costs, visit the following Microsoft Web site:Note In special cases, charges that are ordinarily incurred for support calls may be canceled if a Microsoft Support Professional determines that a specific update will resolve your problem. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for the specific update in question.

The following file is available for download from the Microsoft Download Center:
Download the WindowsMedia9-KB839203-ENU.exe package now. (http://download.microsoft.com/download/3/8/7/387e4962-6ddd-4d3d-a664-402ced018ce4/windowsmedia9-kb839203-enu.exe) For additional information about how to download Microsoft Support files, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: Microsoft scanned this file for viruses. Microsoft used the most current virus-detection software that was available on the date that the file was posted. The file is stored on security-enhanced servers that help to prevent any unauthorized changes to the file.

The English version of this hotfix has the file attributes (or later) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in coordinated universal time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time tool in Control Panel.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section of this article.

Currently, the packages are available in the languages that are listed earlier in this article. For a complete list of Microsoft Product Support Services phone numbers and information about support costs, visit the following Microsoft Web site:Note In special cases, charges that are ordinarily incurred for support calls may be canceled if a Microsoft Support Professional determines that a specific update will resolve your problem. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for the specific update in question.

In addition to the memory increases that are caused by the problem described in this article, certain capture applications may also experience problems that are caused by heap fragmentation. You can resolve these problems by enabling the low fragmentation heap (LFH) option on supported platforms.

For more information about the low fragmentation heap, visit the following MSDN Web site: