What codec pack is the "best"?

[Qyot27]

And how does that change anything? Note, I said Quicktime Alternative, I did not say Quicktime. The purposes of Quicktime Alternative are best substituted by Haali+ffdshow. Full stop. Professional workflows would use the actual Quicktime install that Apple provides, and which most people have due to also having iTunes, if an install of it doesn't actually come with After Effects itself. Not a piece of illegal software that distilled the codecs from Quicktime.

I've never liked or supported the idea of either Quicktime Alternative or Real Alternative, but it doesn't matter now because there are non-hacked, non-pirated, open sourced versions of everything needed to play them back.