DirectShow是微软公司在ActiveMovie和Video for Windows的基础上推出的新一代基于COM(Component Object Model)的流媒体处理的开发包，与DirectX开发包一起发布。DirectShow使用一种叫Filter Graph的模型来管理整个数据流的处理过程，运用DirectShow，我们可以很方便地从支持WDM驱动模型的采集卡上捕获数据，并且进行相应的后期处理乃至存储到文件中。这样使在多媒体数据库管理系统(MDBMS)中多媒体数据的存取变得更加方便。它广泛地支持各种媒体格式，包括Asf、Mpeg、Avi、Dv、Mp3、Wave等，为多媒体流的捕捉和回放提供了强有力的支持。(DirectShow is Microsoft Corp's ActiveMovie and Video for Windows based on the launch of a new generation of COM (Component Object Model) streaming media development package, and DirectX development kits released together. The process, DirectShow uses a Filter Graph model to manage the entire data stream using DirectShow, we can easily drive the model from the support WDM card to capture data, and the corresponding post processing and storage to a file. As a result, access to multimedia data becomes more convenient in a multimedia database management system (MDBMS). It supports a wide variety of media formats, including Asf, Mpeg, Avi, Dv, Mp3, Wave and so on. It provides strong support for the capture and playback of multimedia streams.)