How to play any video file

Media players
Every PC has at least one piece of software for playing back video files: Microsoft’s Windows Media Player (WMP) is preinstalled on most computers. The latest version WMP 11, is compatible with WMV video files, along with a number of other digital video and music formats.

But if a basic copy of WMP is all you have on your PC, then you will probably run into trouble.

It’s normal for computer users to have two or more media players installed to cover the main video formats that are available. In addition to WMP, you will almost certainly need to download and install Apple’s Quicktime player.

Ostensibly, having Quicktime on your PC will mean that you will be able to watch Apple Mac-formatted videos, such as MOV files on your computer as well as Windows ones, although it’s not quite that simple, as we will soon see.

Quicktime 7 is available on its own or as part of iTunes 8, so if you use an iPod you may already have Quicktime installed. There is a paid-for version of Quicktime available (Quicktime Pro), but most users won’t need the extra features it offers (these are mainly for editing video), so get the free version instead.

Another popular choice is Real Player. Until recently, Real Player formats were commonly used for streaming music and video online, but this is no longer the case. In fact, you may find that it’s possible to avoid installing support for Real Player altogether.

To be on the safe side, however, you could consider downloading the free version of Real Player 11.

Browser plug-ins
In addition to standalone media players, web browser plug-ins will also be required if you want to be able to watch videos embedded into web pages.

Windows Media Player, Quicktime and Real Player include their own browser plug-in elements and if you already have the standalone media player installed, you should find that the Internet Explorer (IE) plug-in has also been added to your PC during the setup process.

To check this, open Internet Explorer 7, click Tools then Internet Options, then click the tab labelled Programs and the ‘Manage add-ons’ button. In the window that opens, click where it says ‘Name’ at the top of the list to order IE’s plug-ins alphabetically, then scroll down and check for entries relating to Quicktime, Real Player and Windows Media Player.

If you use Firefox or another non-IE web browser, it may be necessary to install these plug-ins manually. The three plug-ins mentioned above can be download ed from the Add-ons for Firefox website.

Another important plug-in you will definitely need, regardless of the browser you use, is Adobe’s Flash Player. Flash is one of the most common video formats and is used on virtually all the most popular video streaming websites, including Youtube and BBC iPlayer.

You may also want to install Adobe Shockwave Player.