Windows Media Player is available for Windows-based devices. Use this table to find the right version of the Player for your system. (If you've got a Mac, you can download Windows Media Components for QuickTime to play Windows Media files.)

Codecs allow you to play different formats of audio and video files. Media Player supports a wide variety of codecs. Most are included out of the box; some additional codecs can be installed from the Microsoft Store.

Windows Media Player 12: Video codecs. To properly play video (and even music files), Windows Media Player required an appropriate codec. Codecs are small programs that encode digital signals in a file or data and decode. Only in this way, the player can interpret the streams as a music or film and play correctly.

You can stream music, pictures, and video to your Xbox 360 console from your computer by using Windows Media Player.

This article lists the multimedia file types that are supported by Windows Media Player 12. ( How to determine your version of Windows Media Player ). Note: Additional file formats might be supported if you install new codecs in Windows. For more information, see Codecs: frequently asked questions. Windows Media formats (.asf, .wma, .wmv, .wm)

Learn how to download and customize Windows Media Player. Get troubleshooting help and how-to information for Windows Media Player 12.

Windows Media Player 12: Video codecs. To properly play video (and even music files), Windows Media Player required an appropriate codec. Codecs are small programs that encode digital signals in a file or data and decode. Only in this way, the player can interpret the streams as a music or film and play correctly.

If you're getting an error message that says an additional plug-in is required to play back Windows Media in your presentation, you likely need to download a plug-in like Flip4Mac or Switch before you can play some Windows Media files. Read this page to see which plug-in supports your version of Mac OS X.

Windows Media Player includes some of the most popular codecs, like MP3, Windows Media Audio, and Windows Media Video. However, it doesn't include the codecs required for Blu‑ray Disc files, FLAC files, or FLV files.

This step-by-step article describes how to troubleshoot playback problems with Microsoft Windows Media Player 9. back to the top. Troubleshooting audio and video playback. Most of the time, playback issues in Windows Media Player 9 are caused by one of the following problems: Corrupted media.