---
description: "Learn more about: Using CAnimateCtrl"
title: "Using CAnimateCtrl"
ms.date: "11/04/2016"
helpviewer_keywords: ["animation controls [MFC], CAnimateCtrl class", "controls [MFC], animation", "CAnimateCtrl class [MFC], about CAnimateCtrl class [MFC]"]
ms.assetid: 696c0805-bef0-4e2e-a9e7-b37b9215b7f0
---
# Using CAnimateCtrl

An animation control, represented by the class [CAnimateCtrl](../mfc/reference/canimatectrl-class.md), is a window that displays a clip in Audio Video Interleaved (AVI) format — the standard Windows video/audio format. An AVI clip is a series of bitmap frames, like a movie.

Since your thread continues executing while the AVI clip is displayed, one common use for an animation control is to indicate system activity during a lengthy operation. For example, the Windows Find dialog box displays a moving magnifying glass as the system searches for a file.

Animation controls can only play simple AVI clips, and they do not support sound. (For a complete list of limitations, see [CAnimateCtrl](../mfc/reference/canimatectrl-class.md).) Since the capabilities of an animation control are severely limited and subject to change, you should use an alternative such as the MCIWnd control if you need a control to provide multimedia playback and/or recording capabilities. For more information about the MCIWnd control, see the multimedia documentation.

## What do you want to know more about

- [Using an Animation Control](../mfc/using-an-animation-control.md)

- [Notifications Sent by Animation Controls](../mfc/notifications-sent-by-animation-controls.md)

## See also

[Controls](../mfc/controls-mfc.md)