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File Formats Supported by Windows Media Player Versions 6.0 and Later

Article ID: 245608 - View products that this article applies to.

This article was previously published under Q245608

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SUMMARY

This article describes the file formats that Microsoft Windows Media Player supports.

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MORE INFORMATION

Windows Media Player supports the following file formats:

Windows Media Player 6.0

Windows Media formats
File name extensions: .asf, .asx, .avi, .wav, .wma, .wax, .wm, .wmv, .wvx
RealAudio and RealVideo (version 4.0 or earlier)
File name extensions: .ra, .ram, .rm, .rmm
Moving Pictures Experts Group (MPEG)
File name extensions: .mpg, .mpeg, .m1v, .mp2, .mpa, .mpe

Note MPEG 2 requires third-party software or hardware decoders.
Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI)
File name extensions: .mid, .rmi
Apple QuickTime (version 2.0 or earlier)
File name extensions: .mov
Macintosh AIFF Resource
File name extensions: .aif, .aifc, .aiff
Intel Video File
File name extensions: .ivf
UNIX
File name extensions: .au, .snd

Windows Media Player 6.1, 6.2, 6.4, 7, 7.1, Windows Media Player for Windows XP, and Windows Media Player 9 Series

Windows Media formats
File name extensions: .asf, .asx, .avi, .wav, .wax, .wma, .wm
Audio Visual Interleave
File name extension: .avi
Moving Pictures Experts Group (MPEG)
File name extensions: m3u, mp2v, .mpg, .mpeg, .m1v, .mp2, .mp3, .m3u, .mpa, .mpe, mpv2

Note MPEG 2 requires third-party software or hardware decoders.
DVD Video
File name extension: .vob

Note DVD playback requires third-party software or hardware decoders and is supported only in Windows XP.
Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI)
File name extensions: .mid, midi, .rmi
Apple Macintosh AIFF Resource
File name extensions: .aif, .aifc, .aiff
Sun Microsystems and NeXT
File name extensions: .au, .snd
Intel Video File
File name extensions: .ivf

Note Intel Video File support requires the Intel Video 5.x codec.
Windows Media Player Skins
File name extensions: .wmz, .wms
QuickTime Content
File name extensions: .avi, .mov, .qt

Note Windows Media Player can play back older forms of the QuickTime format only. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
316992
(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316992/EN-US/ )
Windows Media Player Multimedia File Formats
Algebraic-Code-Excited Linear Prediction
UNIX
File name extensions: .au, .snd
Macromedia Flash
File name extension: .swf

Note Playback of Shockwave Flash files requires the Macromedia Flash plug-in.

For more information about these file formats and to test your Windows Media Player client using sample files, visit the following Microsoft Windows Media Player Web page:

http://ask.support.microsoft.com/kb/316992

(http://ask.support.microsoft.com/kb/316992)

For additional information about file formats supported on older versions of Windows Media Player, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

191346

(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/191346/EN-US/ )

File Formats Supported by Windows Media Player 5.2

For additional information about how to show file name extensions, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

865219

(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/865219/ )

How to show or hide file name extensions in Windows Explorer

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