
Luckily for you, Windows Media Player can be configured to automatically retrieve the codecs online and install them. So maybe you’re not comfortable with handling codecs yourself. Update your media player or try another one Whenever possible, always get your codecs from the official websites of codec manufacturers or at least from authorized sources. There are many online repositories for codecs, and some of them claim to offer free codecs that are actually laden with malware. You have to be careful where you get your codecs. This is also true for all other media players: they can’t play certain video and music files if they don’t have the appropriate codec. So even if Windows Media Player supports WMV, AVI, MOV and MP4, the underlying video codec may prevent the media player from playing them. It’s a program that turns videos into compressed formats (so they can be easy to transfer and store) and decodes them for viewing on a media player. A codec is short for compression-decompression or code-decode.


Windows Media Player is a versatile program, but it unfortunately doesn’t support all video file types and formats – that is, until you download a codec for those formats. For damaged media, use a recovery program and hope that it can retrieve the videos intact. Or, skip the verification process and just begin downloading from scratch, although you’ll be wasting more time and bandwidth this way. The process should identify portions of the video file that need to be re-downloaded. Verify if the video files have been downloaded properly by using their checksum or hash values. None of the other methods below will work if the video file is corrupt in the first place, so make sure what you have there isn’t partially or wholly damaged. If you’re playing from discs or external drives, scratches and other forms of physical damage can corrupt the videos. For instance, interruptions during downloads may cause videos to have missing portions, which may be essential for media players to read and play the videos. There are several things that corrupt video files. If you’re stumped, here are some suggestions when you can’t play certain video files. You may come across a video file, for instance, that WMP can’t play.

But like all other programs, it’s not perfect. It’s already installed in the system and offers several features, including the ability to rip music, burn discs, and sync content across devices. For most Windows users, the most convenient tool for managing and playing videos is Windows Media Player (WMP).
