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Microsoft upped its multimedia arsenal today with the release of Windows Media Audio and Video 8, updates that help improve software performance for companies that provide digital media content to users. Microsoft also released a new media player for Apple's Macintosh computers.

The Windows Media Audio and Video 8 release updates the company's digital media compression/decompression technologies, used by digital media content providers. Microsoft's Video 8 codec technology allows near-DVD quality video images at 500 kilobits per second, with 640-by-480-pixel resolution at 24 frames per second, according to a Microsoft news release.

For 500-kbps connections, you need a broadband Internet connection about ten times faster than dial-up access, equivalent to midrange digital subscriber line connections. You can maintain near-VHS quality at rates of 250 kbps with 320-by-240-pixel resolution at 24 frames per second, the company says.

The audio codec format can compress a music file to 48 kbps, retaining near-CD quality sound and providing CD-quality sound at 64 kbps, the company says. A typical MP3 music file is compressed at 128 kbps, making Windows Audio 8 files almost three times smaller by comparison.

Works With Media Player 7

Windows Media Audio and Video 8 technologies are compatible with the Windows Media Player 7,which you can download from the company's site. They also work with version 6.4 of the player, as well as the new Windows Media Player 7 for the Mac.

Both new codecs incorporate digital rights management features absent in the more commonly used MPEG and MP3 file formats. Digital rights management prevents users from unauthorized copying and distribution of the files, as has happened on the Napster file-sharing service.

Windows Media Audio and Video 8 will be supported by the upcoming version of the Windows operating system, Windows XP, which will include Windows Media Player 8, now in beta 2.

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