BIK
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BIK files are the video files created using Bink Video codec, a part of RAD Video Tools (developed by Epic Games Tools, formerly RAD Game Tools).
The startup videos that play on all Valve and third-party games (since the Source 2007 update) are .bik videos. They are also used in the menu backgrounds in Left 4 Dead, Left 4 Dead 2, Alien Swarm, Portal 2 and the elevator screens in Portal 2. Prior to Bink being added to Source, previous games or older versions of those games used AVI files instead. Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, which runs on beta version of Source 2004, was the first Source game to utilize Bink video for its startup video.
The original version of Bink (retroactively Bink version 1.0) by today standards, are less efficient when it's come to compression (having large file sizes while resulting in lower quality, lower framerate), and is much more complicated when it comes to converting files, such as AVI or MP4 to BIK, only to ended up causing audio/video de-sync or other issues. On some systems, the MP4 to BIK process may fail with "Unable to open file". Bink 2 was later created as a successor to Bink 1.0, which has massive improvements over Bink 1. Furthermore, there are alternatives to Bink video, such as WebM, which is open-source, and does not require licensing.
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This is a list of some Source games or ports upgraded to Bink 2, or have switched to, or use other file format instead:
Mac ports of Source engine games use QuickTime's MOV video file.
- On
Xbox 360 prior to Left 4 Dead 2, it uses Windows Media Video (WMV) format, and on Nintendo Switch (Portal Companion Collection), it uses MKV.
- The Titanfall branch has been upgraded to use Bink 2 (using BIK or BK2 format), which has more features, such as supporting multi-core rendering, HDR output, a full-color range, and better video quality & compression than Bink 1.
- In post-panorama versions of the CS:GO engine branch, newer versions of Hunt Down the Freeman and Team Fortress 2, all
Source 2 games, as well as Strata Source, it is replaced by WebM.
- In The Stanley Parable it is replaced by IVF to avoid having to license Bink.
- In Black Mesa you can use MP4 videos in QtUI, all the startup video code is removed.