Editing Video CD (section)

== Hardware and software support ==
Early devices supporting Video CD playback include the [[Philips CD-i]] systems and the [[Amiga CD-32]] (albeit via an optional decoder card).<ref name="NGen3">{{citation|title=Beginning of the End for Video CD? |journal=[[Next Generation (magazine)|Next Generation]]|issue=3|publisher=[[Imagine Media]]|date=March 1995|pages=27–28}}</ref> Disc playback is also available both natively and as an option on some CD- and DVD-based video game consoles, including the [[PlayStation (console)|original PlayStation]] (only on the SCPH-5903 model).

Early software supporting Video CD playback include [[XingMPEG]]. Early PC hardware supporting Video CD playback include proprietary '''VCD decoder card'''. Later, because the introduction of [[Pentium II]] processor which supports [[MMX (instruction set)|MMX]] extension, and later [[graphics card]]s had included video decoding function, the use of '''VCD decoder card''' declined.

[[VLC media player|VLC]] is a [[Free and open-source software|free, open-source]] [[media player software]] which supports VCD on [[Windows]], [[MacOS]], [[Linux]] and [[BSD]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Video CD - VideoLAN Wiki|url=https://wiki.videolan.org/Video_CD|access-date=2020-08-23|website=wiki.videolan.org}}</ref>

[[Windows Media Player]] prior to version 9 does not support playing VCD directly. [[Windows Vista]] added native support of VCD along with [[DVD-Video]] and can launch the preferred application upon insertion. The disc format is also supported natively by [[Media Player Classic]], [[VLC media player|VLC Media Player]] and [[MPlayer]].<ref name=mplayer>{{citation | url=http://www.mplayerhq.hu/DOCS/HTML/en/vcd.html | title=3.6. VCD playback | publisher=[[MPlayer]] | access-date=2018-04-03}}</ref> Discs may include software for playing back VCD on operating systems that do not support it natively, which can be bundled by the authoring software.<ref name=roxio-vcd-play>[https://archive.org:443/details/roxio_videodisc_player_1-02-01-33 Roxio VideoDisc Player 1.02.01.33 : Roxio, Inc. ] - Internet Archive</ref>

[[QuickTime Player]] also does not support playing VCD directly, though it can play the .DAT files (stored under \MPEGAV for video and audio data) reliably,<ref>{{citation|url=http://support.apple.com/kb/TA22480|title=Mac OS X 10.3: Playing Video Compact Disc (VCD) media|work=apple.com}}</ref> and [[plug-in (computing)|plugins]] were available.

Direct access playback support is available within [[Windows XP MCE]], [[Windows Vista]] and newer (including [[Windows 10]]), [[classic Mac OS]], [[BSD]], [[macOS]], and [[Linux]] among others, either directly or with updates and compatible software.

Most [[DVD]] players are compatible with VCDs, and VCD-only players are available throughout Asia, and online through many shopping sites. Some older [[Blu-ray]] and [[HD DVD|HD-DVD]] players also retained support, as do [[China Blue High-definition Disc|CBHD]] players as well. However, most Blu-ray players, most [[vehicle audio]] with DVD/Blu-ray support, [[Xbox]] family, and the Sony [[PlayStation]] ([[PlayStation 2|2]]/[[PlayStation 3|3]]/[[PlayStation 4|4]]/[[PlayStation 5|5]]) cannot play VCDs; this is because while they have backwards playback compatibility with the DVD standard, these player can not read VCD data because the player software does not have support for MPEG-1 video and audio, the player software lacks ability to read MPEG-1 stream in DAT files alongside MPEG-1 stream in standard MPEG, [[Audio Video Interleave|AVI]], and Matroska files, or the player lacks ability to read [[CD-ROM XA]] discs.{{citation needed|date=March 2025}}

Authoring software for VCD and SVCD includes Nero Video for Windows and VCD Imager for Linux.<ref>[https://support.nero.com/en/support/solutions/articles/44002142465-how-to-create-a-vcd-disc-with-nero-video How to create a VCD disc with Nero Video : Nero AG]</ref><ref>[https://www.gnu.org/software/vcdimager/ GNU VCDImager - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation (FSF)]</ref>