Download of the week: DivX 7

Amidst the frenzy the Consumer Electronics Show this week, DivX has released version 7 of its popular video and audio compression software, particularly introducing support for full HD H.264 videos. Continuing the trend of previous releases, DivX 7 comes in two forms, a freeware edition with support for video playback and a $19.99 version that provides additional tools for creating or converting DivX videos.

The updated software also includes the DivX H.264 Decoder filter and the DivX MKV Demux filter, which are DirectShow filters that extend playback support for MKV files, an open standard container format that can hold an unlimited number of video, audio, picture or subtitle tracks inside a single file and is rapidly becoming the norm for HD downloads.

Another noteworthy new feature is the integration of AAC audio, a digital audio format that comes with support for multichannel audio and studio-quality sample rates, promising movie theater-like surround sound. You can download DivX 7 here and get 15-day trial to sample all the encoding goodies as well.