Symptoms
When you try to insert an MPEG-2 video into a Microsoft PowerPoint 2013 or 2010 presentation, you receive the following error message:
PowerPoint cannot insert a video from the selected file. Verify that the necessary codec for this media format is installed, and then try again.
Alert ID: 400737
However, the video plays successfully in Windows Media Player.
Cause
This issue occurs because PowerPoint 2013 or 2010 must be able to grab frame-by-frame information in any content that it plays. PowerPoint requires this functionality in order to display the poster frame of a particular video, for example. Because of the video-decoding process that is used by PowerPoint 2013 or 2010, the frame-by-frame level is unavailable for some MPEG-2 videos.
Workaround
To work around this issue, use one of the following methods.
Convert the video to a Windows Media Video (.wmv) format
To convert the video into a Windows Media Video (.wmv) format, you can use Microsoft Expression Encoder 4 Pro.
Install a third-party video codec
Install a video codec from a third-party source that supports the video format that is used by the video. To find Windows-compatible codecs, visit the following FOURCC.org website:
FOURCC.org Microsoft provides third-party contact information to help you find technical support. This contact information may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this third-party contact information.
Use the Windows Media Player control in PowerPoint
Insert the Windows Media Player control onto the slide and then play the video through this control. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
291879 How to play media clips in PowerPoint by using Windows Media Player Note This workaround does not embed the video into the presentation. Instead, a link is inserted into the presentation. For maximum portability, put the video file in a public folder that all users can access before you add the link to the presentation.
