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Information about Windows Imaging Component (WIC)

Article ID: 947898 - View products that this article applies to.

Introduction

This article describes Windows Imaging Component (WIC) and how to obtain the latest WIC codec for your camera.

WIC technology provides an extensible framework for working with images and with image metadata. WIC makes it possible for independent software vendors and independent hardware vendors to develop their own image codecs and to obtain the same platform support as standard image formats. For example, these standard image formats include TIFF, JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP, and WMPhoto formats. WIC is included in Windows Vista. Additionally, WIC is available as a download for Windows XP.

Codecs that are provided by camera manufacturers are the interfaces that WIC uses to provide support for proprietary image formats. Any application that uses WIC receives automatic support for new image formats when the codec is installed.

Expression Media Version 1.0 Service Pack 1 (SP1) for Windows uses WIC to render images for thumbnail views and for media views.

For more information about WIC technology and about related topics, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms737408.aspx#codec_goals

(http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms737408.aspx#codec_goals)