Dielectric thin film mirrors are embedded in multimode and single-mode fibers by a fusion splicing technique. The fibers with $45{circ}$ angled embedded mirrors serve as ultra-compact directional couplers with low excess optical loss of 0.2 dB for multimode and 0.5 dB for single mode at 1.3 ${mu}m$ and excellent mechanical properties. The reflectance is wavelength dependent and strongly polarization depencient. Far-field scans of the reflected output power measured with a white-light source show a pattern which is almost circularly symmetric with aspect ratio of 1.09 at 5% of the peak power. The splitting ratio in a multimode coupler measured with a diode laser source is much less dependent on input coupling conditions than in conventional fused biconical-taper couplers, indicating that these couplers are less susceptible to modal noise occuring in optical fiber communication systems. Spectral properties of multilayer internal mirrors normal to the fiber axis have been investigated experimentally, and a matrix analysis has been used to explain the results.