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Need help?CR3 to DivX: A Canon Raw Prepared for DivX-era Playback
CR3 is Canon's current raw format — ISO Base Media File Format on the outside, Canon's crx codec on the inside, first shipped on the EOS M50 in April 2018. DivX is something else entirely: an implementation of MPEG-4 Part 2, the Advanced Simple Profile family, which grew out of a 1998 modification of a Microsoft codec and became mainstream with the DivX 4.0 release in July 2001. Converting one to the other develops the photograph into a single video frame, holds it on screen for a duration you choose, and encodes it as a silent MPEG-4 ASP stream inside an AVI container carrying the .divx extension. It is a deliberately old-fashioned target, and it exists for one reason: hardware that will not play anything newer.
How to Convert CR3 to DivX
- Upload Your CR3 File: Drag the
.cr3onto the page or click "+ Add Files". Queue several photographs and Merge strategy decides between one combined file ("Merge images") and a separate clip per photo ("Video per image"). - Set the Image Duration: Image Duration holds the still for anything from 1/60 of a second up to 10 seconds per frame, opening on 5 seconds. From one photograph, that setting is the whole length of the clip.
- Pick the Quality and Frame Size: File Compression opens on the "Very High (Recommended)" Quality Preset; Constant Quality swaps it for a 1-to-31 quality scale, and Constraint Quality for a maximum bitrate. Video resolution starts on "Keep original", with Fixed Resolutions, preset heights and an explicit Width x Height available, and Background Color — white by default — fills the bars a different frame shape creates.
- Convert and Download: Click Convert and save the
.divx. Your file is uploaded over an encrypted connection, encoded on our servers and deleted automatically a few hours later — no sign-up, no watermark.
What a .divx File Actually Is
| Property | Value on this page |
|---|---|
| Video codec | MPEG-4 Part 2, Advanced Simple Profile — the DivX family |
| Container | AVI, which is what .divx files have always been built on |
| Codec choices offered | DivX only; the target format fixes the payload |
| Audio stream | None — a photograph has no sound, so none is written |
| Frame rate | 1 fps, because there is no motion to sample |
| Clip length | The Image Duration you set, 5 seconds by default |
| B-frames | Disabled, as they achieve nothing between identical frames |
| Frame preparation | The raw is developed to a clean image at no more than 4096 pixels on its long edge |
| Quality controls | Quality Preset, a 1–31 quality scale, or a maximum bitrate |
| Colour depth | 8 bits per channel, developed down from the raw's 12 to 14 |
| Several photographs at once | One combined clip, or one file each, according to Merge strategy |
DivX Against the Nearby Alternatives
| Target | Codec inside | Container | Reach for it when |
|---|---|---|---|
| DivX (this page) | MPEG-4 ASP | AVI | A DivX-certified DVD player, set-top box or older TV has to play the file |
| CR3 to Xvid | MPEG-4 ASP, the open implementation | AVI | A tool or device names Xvid rather than DivX |
| CR3 to AVI | MPEG-4 by default, with Xvid, MJPEG and H.264 also offered | AVI | You want the same era of file but a choice of codec |
| CR3 to MP4 | H.264 | MP4 | The clip has to play on phones, browsers and current editors |
| CR3 to WebM | VP9 | WebM | The clip is going onto a web page |
| CR3 to JPG | Not a video at all | JPEG | You wanted a picture rather than a clip, which is usually the case |
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a .divx file, underneath the extension?
An AVI file with an MPEG-4 Advanced Simple Profile video stream inside it. DivX has always been a codec rather than a container, and the files it produced were built on Microsoft's AVI format — the later DivX Media Format was itself an extension of AVI, added in DivX 6, which kept backwards compatibility while bolting on chapters, menus and multiple audio tracks. What this page writes is the straightforward case: an MPEG-4 ASP stream in an AVI, named .divx.
Why is there no sound in the file?
Because a photograph does not have any. Rather than writing a silent audio track for the sake of appearances, the converter writes no audio stream at all, which is why no Audio Codec control appears here. If the clip needs music or a voiceover, add it afterwards in a video editor — an AVI-based file will accept an audio stream perfectly well once there is something to put in it.
Why is DivX the only codec I can choose?
Because on this page the codec is the target. Elsewhere on the site the output extension names a container and the codec inside it is a separate decision; .divx names the codec, so choosing anything else would produce a file that contradicts its own extension. If you want the same container with a choice of payload, CR3 to AVI offers MPEG-4, Xvid, MJPEG and H.264 in the same AVI wrapper.
Is DivX the same thing as Xvid?
They are two implementations of the same underlying standard, MPEG-4 Part 2 ASP, and a player that handles one almost always handles the other. The difference is history and licensing rather than the bitstream: DivX came from a commercial company that ran a hardware certification programme, while Xvid grew up as the open alternative. Pick whichever name your device's documentation actually uses — that is the only reason to care.
What still plays DivX files today?
VLC and mpv play them without comment, as do most desktop media players, and the large installed base of DVD players, set-top boxes, televisions and games consoles that carried "DivX Certified" branding through the 2000s. What does not reliably play them is a modern phone, a browser or a smart TV app, none of which are built around MPEG-4 ASP any more. If you need something current, DivX to MP4 converts a file you already have.
Why does the clip run at one frame per second?
Because a still photograph has nothing to sample more often. The developed frame is looped and cut off at the duration you chose, so a five-second clip is five identical frames rather than 125. It keeps the encode trivial and the file small, and any editor will re-time the clip if a downstream tool insists on a conventional rate.
Does the DivX file preserve the CR3's editing latitude?
No. Canon's crx codec stores roughly 12 to 14 bits per channel of unprocessed sensor data, which is what allows white balance, exposure and highlight recovery to be revisited long after the shot. Producing a video frame means demosaicing that into ordinary 8-bit pixels and baking the current interpretation in permanently, and MPEG-4 ASP then compresses it lossily on top. Develop the raw the way you want it first, and keep the .cr3 files as the master copies.
Should I be converting to DivX at all?
Only if a specific piece of hardware demands it. DivX solved a real problem in an era of slow connections and small hard drives, and the certification programme means a lot of older living-room equipment plays it and nothing newer. Outside that case there is no advantage left: CR3 to MP4 produces a smaller, more compatible clip, and if what you actually wanted was a viewable photograph rather than a video, CR3 to JPG is smaller still and opens on anything.