What is a BIK file
BIK files are video files that have been developed primarily to provide a format for video clips that can be played in video games. The format is proprietary to the developers, RAD Game Tools. These video clips can be played/watched in video games both on a PC and on gaming consoles. BIK provides a good way to optimize standard videos (e.g. in the MP4 format) for the target platform such as PlayStation. At the same time, the videos are highly compressed to save hardware disk space.
BIK is not a “native” video format. In most cases, BIK videos are compressed from other, more common formats such as AVI, MOV or MP4. In order to create a Bink video, one of the tools provided by RAD Game Tools has to be used to compress the desired video. BIK videos created that way can be of a very low resolution, e.g. 320x240, or up to HD quality resolution, depending on the requirements of the target platform. While smaller resolutions are fitting for handheld devices, larger resolution videos are perfect for consoles or PC gaming which are usually played on a larger TV or computer screen.
Here's a small, but not exhaustive list of programs that can open BIK documents:
- Microsoft Windows Media Player (Windows)
- Splayer (Windows)
- The Bink Video Player (Mac & Linux)
- The RAD Video Tools (Windows)
- VideoLAN VLC Media Player (Windows, Mac & Linux)
