LEAD WIC Enabled Codecs Overview

The LEAD WIC-Enabled Codec is a set of over forty image encoders and decoders that integrate seamlessly with the Windows Imaging Component (WIC) framework introduced in Windows Vista and Windows XP Service Pack 3. Windows Vista ships with seven WIC decoders and encoders for some of the the more common file formats. By registering any or all of the LEAD WIC-enabled encoders or decoders, existing applications that support the framework automatically have access to over forty image files formats. This means that existing applications (like Vista Photo Explorer) will automatically be able to read or write almost any image file format. Also, when using the thumbnail view in Windows Explorer, you will see a thumbnail instead of a generic icon for any of the LEAD WIC-enabled decoders that you register on your system.

The LEAD WIC-enabled codec is a package of over 40 decoders and encoders. Most of the decoders and encoders have many additional sub-formats. For more information, see LEAD WIC Enabled Codecs File Format Summary.

The LEAD WIC-enabled codec can be used to support one or more of over 40 possible image formats. It can integrate with Windows Explorer so that for a given image format, one of the LEAD icons is displayed, or a thumbnail preivew is generated. For more information, see Registering the LEAD WIC Enabled Codecs.

Incorporating the LEAD WIC-Enabled Codecs into Windows Vista or Windows XP Service Pack3
This is a two-step process. First, install the required LEAD libraries in the Global Assembly Cache (or GAC). This is accomplished by dragging the required LEAD libraries to the GAC location (typically c:\windows\assembly), or by using a utility like gacutil.exe which is the .NET utility used to work with the GAC. For a list of LEAD required libraries see Files to Included with your Application (Redistributables). The second step is to register the LEAD WIC-Enabled Codecs that you want to use. For more information, see Registering the LEAD WIC-Enabled Codecs.

Programming with the LEAD WIC-Enabled Codec
The LEAD WIC-Enabled Codec is a COM object that supports the standard WIC codecs interfaces. The LEAD CLeadBitmapDecoder is the class that implements the LEAD Bitmap decoders. The LEAD CLeadBitmapEncoder is the class that implements the LEAD Bitmap Encoders. A summary of the interfaces implemented by these classes is given below:

CLeadBitmapDecoder Implemented Interfaces
IWICBitmapFrameDecode
IWICBitmapDecoder
IWICBitmapCodecProgressNotification
IWICMetadataBlockReader
IThumbnailProvider
IInitializeWithStream

CLeadBitmapEncoder Implemented Interfaces
IWICBitmapEncoder
IWICBitmapFrameEncode
IWICLeadBitmapEncoder

Tutorials
There are several tutorials that show how to programmatically work with the LEAD WIC-Enabled Codecs, as well as any other codecs that are registered on your system. See LEAD WIC-Enabled Codecs Tutorials for more information.

LeadCodecDemo_Original.exe
The source code for this demo is installed as part of the toolkit. It is written in C++, and shows how to program with the LeadCodec.dll COM object directly. The LeadCodecDemo can do the following:

Display all WIC decoders and encoders that are registered on your system
Display the property bag items of all encoders on your system
Open and display image files using any of the codecs registered on your system. The log shows detailed information about the decoder used.
Save image files using any of the codecs registered on your system. When choosing one of the LEAD Encoders, the IWICLeadBitmapEncoder interface is used to show detailed options in the file save dialog.