The Media Control Interface — MCI for short — is a high-level

API An application programming interface (API) is a connection between computers or between computer programs. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that describes how to build ...

developed by

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and

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for controlling

multimedia Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms, such as Text (literary theory), writing, Sound, audio, images, animations, or video, into a single presentation. T ...

peripheral A peripheral device, or simply peripheral, is an auxiliary hardware device that a computer uses to transfer information externally. A peripheral is a hardware component that is accessible to and controlled by a computer but is not a core compo ...

s connected to a

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computer, such as

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains computer data storage, data computers can read, but not write or erase. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold b ...

players and audio controllers. MCI makes it very simple to write a program which can play a wide variety of media files and even to record sound by just passing commands as

string String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

s. It uses relations described in Windows registries or in the CIsection of the file . One advantage of this API is that MCI commands can be transmitted both from the programming language and from the scripting language (open script, lingo aso). Example of such commands are or . , the MCI interface has been phased out in favor of the

DirectX Microsoft DirectX is a collection of application programming interfaces (APIs) for handling tasks related to multimedia, especially game programming and video, on Microsoft platforms. Originally, the names of these APIs all began with "Direct" ...

APIs first released in 1995.

MCI Devices

The Media Control Interface consists of 7 parts: *cdaudio *digitalvideo *overlay *sequencer *vcr *videodisc *waveaudio Each of these so-called MCI devices (e.g.

or VCD player) can play a certain type of files, e.g. plays files, plays

CD-DA Compact Disc Digital Audio (CDDA or CD-DA), also known as Digital Audio Compact Disc or simply as Audio CD, is the standardization, standard format for audio compact discs. The standard is defined in the ''Rainbow Books, Red Book'' technical s ...

tracks among others. Other MCI devices have also been made available over time.

Playing media through the MCI interface

To play a type of media, it needs to be initialized correctly using MCI commands. These commands are subdivided into categories: *System Commands *Required Commands *Basic Commands *Extended Commands A full list of MCI commands can be found a
Microsoft's MSDN Library

References

External links

Microsoft MCI Reference
- MSDN Library Microsoft application programming interfaces Microsoft Windows multimedia technology Multimedia frameworks {{windows-stub

MCI Devices

Playing media through the MCI interface

See also

References

External links