How to watch videos in Windows

Video file formats
It would be possible to write a dissertation on video file formats – and we are sure someone, somewhere will have done just that – but suffice it to say that over the years hundreds of different ways of storing video in a computer file, known as formats, have come into existence.

Not all video playing software can play every type of video format, and this is what causes playback problems. So, how do you fix them?

Well, first of all the video-player software needs to be able play a particular file format. Microsoft, for example, invented a video file format called Windows Media Video, or WMV for short. It is a popular file format and it is supported by many video-player applications (including Windows Media Player, of course).

Fortunately, the same is true of most other popular video file formats, including MPEG and MOV (the latter being invented by Apple). So, while there are indeed hundreds of video file formats, only a handful are in popular use and, by sticking to these, video playback on your PC should be mostly trouble-free.

Cracking codecs
Sadly, some more troublesome types of video file, such as AVI files, may contain many different types of video. If your PC doesn’t have the necessary codec (a small file that explains how to play what type of video), playback may be affected – with only the soundtrack playing, perhaps.

At other times, the audio and video may not be synchronised or the video file just flatly refuses to play, with Media Player throwing up a cryptic error message.

Finding and installing the right codec could be easy, and it might be free. Alternatively, it could be awkward and costly (some codecs are commercial products, available only for a fee).

Regardless, with the number of permutations the best advice we can give is to follow Windows Media Player’s prompts, or install the free VLC Player, which includes a wide range of codecs – see the last page for more information on these.

Sometimes, however, the answer might be right there on your PC. Though recent versions of Windows Media Player will happily play back videos in Apple’s MOV format, for instance, earlier editions may lack the right codec.

In this instance, it would not be particularly hard to hunt down the necessary codec – or even just download an up-to-date version of Windows Media Player – but right-clicking on the file and choosing Open with might be quicker and easier, because it is possible that Apple’s Quicktime media player is already installed on the PC. If Quicktime is in the list, just click it and the MOV file should play.

If you find that the computer is continually failing to play a variety of video files, you might wish to install a ‘codec pack’ – a package of commonly used video codecs that can all be added at once rather than continually searching for one after another. One popular pack is the K-Lite Mega Codec Pack.