MCF

The mcf file extension seems to be best known for one of the file type from PTC Mathcad application for Microsoft Windows used to perform, document and share calculation and design results.

The mcf file contains font used in Mathcad.

File extension mcf is also associated with MasterCook application management of cooking recipes.

A .mcf file contains complete MasterCook cookbook data with recipes and cooking instructions.

MIME types: text/mcf

The mcf file extension is used for MCF file format. MCF is an open (the specs are available for everybody, free of charge), free (no royalties) data storage format called Movie Container Format (previously also known as Multimedia Container Format). It is developed by experienced video enthuasists and programmers. The format and all software we develop for it will also stay free; it won't be turned into a commercial project once it's popular.

In short it is a file format, like AVI. However, it is also much more than that, having streaming and broadcasting features in the same format. It is not video or audio compression algorithm, but instead just a container that can hold any media inside it. This does include MPEG-4 (XviD and DivX), AC3, Ogg Vorbis, MP3 and the others you may need.

The reason this project was started is that once upon a time the only usable movie format on PC was Microsoft's AVI, which had seen its best days and couldn't really be extended any further. After searching for existing alternates, without success, the MCF project (by the name of TMF in the early ages) was started. Since then there have been some other similar new projects appearing, most notably OGM ("Ogg Media").

As if things wouldn't have been complex enough otherwise, one of MCF's lead developers, Steve Lhomme (robUx4) started to experiment with completely new way of storing data, EBML. He took the MCF format structure and replaced most of its simple binary fields by these EBML fields. After some discussion (he was proposing to replace the almost ready for release MCF with this new system), he started his own project (the date was 2002-12-06), Matroska, to experiment more with his system. Well, then Lasse Kärkkäinen (Tronic), the other of MCF's lead developers had to go to military and because the developers still left weren't comfortable enough for coding software, the MCF development was stalled for six months.

The current status is that OGM and Matroska have working code available and can be played back on Windows and Linux. MCF is about four months behind Matroska in this matter, but we are continuing the project because this format has many technical advantages over all known competitors.

File extension mcf is also known to be used for a special, proprietary format from a German software called My CEWE Photobook (Mein CEWE Fotobuch).

A .mcf file from this program seems to represent a photo project that defines the design of a photobook along with references for the photos used.

It is just a project and does not contain the photos itself.

The mcf file extension is associated with the SignIQ, an application for creating, managing, distributing and rendering formatted content to all in-store ESL and print production.

The mcf file contains media collection for SignIQ.

The mcf file extension is related to the TMPGEnc conversion software.

TMPGEnc converts .avi files to MPEG1, the format which is used in VideoCDs. Using a variety of options in TMPGEnc, you can compress your video file in high quality.

TMPGEnc enables you to adjust bitrate, quantize matrix, GOP structure, interlacing and many other parameters so that you can create the most appropriate movie file depending on your needs.

The mcf file extension is associated with the Watchtower Library, an application used to browse information stored in Jehovah's Witnesses databases.

The mcf file contains font for visualizing text information.