There was a time when all you needed to play your video files was Windows Media Player. This was especially true when it came to simple AVI and WMV movie clips. Now days however, you will no doubt come across all different types of media files. The problem is that Windows Media Player alone can't handle the job anymore. This is due mainly to all the different types of codecs used to encode the videos. All is not lost though.
Simply put, if a video was 'encoded' in one format, then your computer must also have the corresponding codec to 'decode' the file for playback. By default, Windows XP and Vista can play some simple AVI and WMV movie clips but once you start talking about MKVs, MOV, RVMB and DivX encoded files, you're going to need help. In this post, I will go over some software you can install to ensure that whatever video file you encounter, you will be able to play them back on your computer.
Codec Packs
One of the easiest methods of ensuring movie playback on your computer is to install a codec pack. These are bundles of the most used codecs out there. I currently know of two popular codec packs. One word of caution though. You do not want to blindly install codecs from any site. Remember, bad guys usually trick their victims into installing viruses and other malware by making them believe that what they are installing will help you. So for example if you land on a webpage that all of sudden presents you with a dialog box asking you to install a .EXE 'codec' file in order to view a certain video on their site, something is wrong.
# Combined Community Codec Pack
This is the codec pack of my choice. I have been using it since day one when I found out about it and it gets the job done every single time. I watch a lot of Japanese anime and they are notorious for requiring all different kinds of codecs to be installed on your computer. Chances are if you ever downloaded anime movie clips, than you'll know a little something about codecs. Anyways, installation is a breeze and it will work on XP, Vista and even Windows 7. Just hit OK for each prompt and you should be good to go. With CCCP installed, you'll notice that some videos that couldn't play before in WMP are now able to. That's because you can think of these codec packs as background workers helping you to decode the video.
# K-Lite Codec Pack
This is the other popular codec pack. Although I have never used this before, I'm sure that it works the same as CCCP. If users don't use CCCP, then most likely they are using this one and vice-versa.
Media players
With the codec packs installed, you have pretty much everything needed to playback your movie files. However, if you don't want to use WMP as your movie player, you can opt for alternatives.
# Media Player Classic Home Cinema
This awesome lightweight player is one of the best alternatives to using WMP. If you installed CCCP or K-Lite, chances are it's already installed on your system as well because it was bundled along with it. It starts up almost instantly and gives you a lot of control when watching your videos like zooming in, taking photo snapshots and subtitle support.
# VLC Media Player
VLC is held as one of the most impressive standalone video player. It comes ready by default to be able to play most of your video files without the need of additional codec packs. Therefore, if you don't like the idea of installing either CCCP or K-Lite, install VLC first and see if it can solve your video issue. If it does, then obviously you don't have to install the additional codec pack. You can look at the feature page to see all the video formats it supports by default. But this player can do so much more like playing DVDs, capturing video streams from the Internet, playing audio files etc.
# GOM Player
GOM Player is another favorite for a lot of users. Although I don't use it, the player seems to sport a lot of cool features. For one, the Codec Finder feature seems very useful for those folks who need total control of what gets installed on their computer. This will allow you to install only the codecs needed and nothing more. The other awesome feature is allow you to play back broken or partially downloaded movie files.
Real Player and Quicktime Player alternatives
I both hate and love these two proprietary players. I love them because some shows I watch are only available in these formats but I hate it because they are two of the most bloated pieces of software ever. Installing just one of them will install a bunch of other useless services and applications that you will never need. For example, I bet some of you didn't even know that the RealOne player had their own browser! What for though?! However, you should know by know that if I complain about it, I'm sure to tell you of a work around.
# Real Player alternative
This will give you the ability to view the various audio and video files related to the Real Player family but without all that extra bloatware. There are no startup entries being made, no browser or background process running when you use this 'alternative'.
# Quick Time alternative
QuickTime is Apple's multimedia viewer/software. I rarely come across these types of files but if you do, you'll appreciate the QuickTime alternative. Like the RealPlayer alternative, it gives you the features of a full QuickTime install but without the actual bloat. Both software allows full integration with your browser so worry not.
Windows Media Player and Firefox
Sometimes I've come across users who have trouble viewing embedded video files in their Firefox browsers. This can be fixed with a simple plugin.
# Windows Media Player for Firefox plugin
A simple download and quick installation should allow Windows Media Player to be properly embedded in your Firefox browser. This is one of the first download I make whenever I install Firefox on a new computer.
Video file information
Sometimes you just want to be curious and dig up information about a current video you have. For example, you might want to know the video and audio codec used for the video or whether you have the necessary codec installed to view that particular video or not.
# GSpot
This nifty utility supports drag and drop so just dump your video file in it and it will quickly spit back out all kind of information about it. Whether you understand them or not is another story!
I hope that after reading this post, you will be able to play any of your video files. Sometimes it can be frustrating having the file right in front of you but yet you aren't able to do anything with it!
