About MCI

[The feature associated with this page, MCI, is a legacy feature. It has been superseded by MediaPlayer. MediaPlayer has been optimized for Windows 10 and Windows 11. Microsoft strongly recommends that new code use MediaPlayer instead of MCI, when possible. Microsoft suggests that existing code that uses the legacy APIs be rewritten to use the new APIs if possible.]

MCI provides applications with device-independent capabilities for controlling audio and visual peripherals. Your application can use MCI to control any supported multimedia device, including waveform-audio devices, MIDI sequencers, CD audio devices, and digital-video (video playback) devices.

• MCI Command Strings and Messages
• Classifications of MCI Commands
• MCI Functions, Macros, and Messages
• The Wait, Notify, and Test Flags
• Command Shortcuts and Variations
• MCI Devices
• Working with MCI Devices
• MCI Implementations for Specific Devices
• Device-Specific Command Sets