Media types (DirectShow)

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[The feature associated with this page, DirectShow, is a legacy feature. It has been superseded by MediaPlayer, IMFMediaEngine, and Audio/Video Capture in Media Foundation. Those features have been optimized for Windows 10 and Windows 11. Microsoft strongly recommends that new code use MediaPlayer, IMFMediaEngine and Audio/Video Capture in Media Foundation instead of DirectShow, when possible. Microsoft suggests that existing code that uses the legacy APIs be rewritten to use the new APIs if possible.]

Microsoft® DirectShow® uses the AM_MEDIA_TYPE structure to describe media samples. This structure includes GUID members for major type, subtype, and format type. This section summarizes the major type and subtype GUIDs that are defined for DirectShow. Third-party filters may define their own media type GUIDs.