Dealing with proprietary A/V formats

Reduct supports most audio and video formats, including many proprietary ones. But some formats are intentionally locked up inside proprietary software, and only play using specialized programs. If you’ve ever been handed one (or many!) of these unusual files, you know how frustrating it can be to try to work with them outside of their original ecosystem.

For situations like this, Reduct offers Human Services Import Support as anEnterprise Add-On. Our team can manually convert your proprietary files into standard formats that work seamlessly with Reduct. To learn more, contact sales@reduct.video.

If you’ve not opted for the Human Services Import Support add-on, below are some of the more common proprietary formats you might come across, and how you can handle them yourself.

Doing it yourself

If you encounter files that can only be played using specialized software (typically from the maker of the hardware that generated or captured the footage in the first place), or files that Reduct cannot process, your first effort should be to convert or export them to standard formats - typically MP4, MOV, or AVI files for video, or to MP3 or WAV for audio files. Many proprietary players offer the ability to export a file in one of the above formats; take that exported file and upload that to Reduct.

Common proprietary formats

DS2 files (from Olympus voice recorders)

DS2 is a proprietary format developed by Olympus. Many Olympus recorders let you switch to MP3, a standard format supported by Reduct. Olympus provides instructions for changing the recording format on models like the DS-9500, DS-9000, and DS-2600. There is also a guide that explains how to change the format using the Dictation Module or the Device Customization Program.

G64x files (from Genetec Security Center)

G64x (and G64) are proprietary surveillance formats from Genetec’s Security Center.

To use their footage in Reduct, you’ll need to export it to MP4 from Security Center. Genetec provides a walkthrough here: Exporting an MP4 video with Security Center.

If you’ve been given a G64x file and only need to view it, Genetec offers a free Windows-only Video Player.