The right media tools have made codec troubles more or less a thing of the past. Not every Windows user on the other hand is using programs like VLC Media Player or SMPlayer which ship with the majority of codecs included so that they do not need to be installed separately on the system. All popular video formats, and the majority of lesser known formats, are supported by those players.
If you prefer to use a media player that is not shipping with binary codecs, like Windows Media Player, then you may come in situations where a video or audio file is not supported, so that your media player can’t play it at all. That is for instance the case when it comes to media files with the mkv extension which are not supported by Windows Media Player by default.
Codec Installer
Codec Installer is a third party software that can help you identify missing codes and repair installed codecs that are not working properly. When you start the program you get a handful of quite useful options.
- Installed Codecs displays a list of all codecs that have been installed on the operating system sorted by video, audio, other and general. Those information are technical in nature, but may help you check codec versions and installation paths.
- Analyze File can be very handy if you have an audio or video file that you can’t play on your system. Just open the menu, browse to the video file in question, and you get information about the file’s type below. Once you have identified the video format, you can go codec hunting or use the Install Codecs options in the main interface
- Install Codecs lets you install different codecs on the system that all media players can make use of then. The program highlights the codecs that are already installed on the system, and displays download buttons that you can click on to download the codecs to the system.
The program can be very helpful to find codecs that you are missing on your system. Make sure you pay attention to the installation dialog as the program will install a toolbar on your system if you are not careful.