Isn’t it really frustrating when all your favorite movies and videos just won’t play despite having the latest operating system or media player? That’s because you’re missing-out on the codec required to run that particular format. To rid-out this underlining issue, we’ve listed out the best video codecs for watching movies available on the web. Dubbed as ‘codec’ the coder-decoder holds capabilities to encode and decode the stream and signal possessed and given out by the file in order to playback video and audio, similar to formats such as MKV, FLV or AVI. As that default media player (in this case Windows Media Player) is incapable of running most file formats, the use of external codecs is a necessity. Although, with our best Windows Media Player alternatives presenting themselves as effective solutions, why have different players do the job of one? By choosing from our list of video codecs for watching movies, you could get an all-in-one media player supporting almost any format thrown at it.
1. DivX Plus Codec Pack: Comprising all popular formats available, the DivX Plus Codec Pack can play movies based on the MPEG-4 ASP and H.264 video codec and supports audio streams such as MP3, AC3, Vorbis and DTS within the DivX, AVI and MKV format. Also, for smooth playback of high definition videos, the pack holds the added DXVA hardware acceleration that eliminates frame drops and the H.264, AAC decoder alongside the MKV splitter.
2. K-Lite Mega Codec Pack: Supporting playback of formats such as AVI, MKV, MP4, FLV, OGM, MPEG, MOV, HDMOV, TS, M2TS and OGG, K-Lite Codec Pack is a collection of DirectShow filters, VFW/ACM codecs and tools. Designed as a user-friendly solution, you should be able to play almost all popular media file without any hassle.
3. XP Codec Pack: The compact and easy to use codec pack brings in support for multiple languages along with a number of filters and decoders such as the AC3Filter, AVI Splitter, CoreFlac decoder, VSFilter and many more. With the XP Codec Pack you could play all audio and video files in a single player instead of different ones.
4. Windows Essentials Codec Pack: Capable of playing 99% of file formats available today, the Windows Essentials Codec Pack (WECP) is equipped with a comprehensive collection of Codecs, Filters, Splitters and various other tools. Supporting CDs, DVDs, SVCDs and XCDs, the pack comes with the Media Player Classic application as an add-on feature.
5. Media Player Codec Pack: Supporting most file types and compression methods utilized by video and audio formats, the Media Player Codec Pack brings in compatibility to MKV, AVI, FLV, MP4, M4V, M4A, OGM, FLAC, APE, AAC, OGG, MPC and many more. Also, the pack works on Windows Media Player 9, 10, 11 and 12.
6. Windows 7 Codec Pack: Similar to the Media Player Codec Pack, the Windows 7 Codec Pack is bundled with additional components for extended playback capabilities. For an enriched experience, the pack comprises the DivX v7.4 Pro Video codec, DivX H.264 decoder. XviD v1.3.2 encoder, Flash video splitter, InterVideo filter, MP4 source splitter with VSFilter and the GSpot Codec Information Appliance.
With our suggestion of the best video codecs from among the above for watching movies is sure to give the default media player a huge boost in its capabilities. Besides that, the aforementioned packs are also compatible with many other applications, giving them the added advantage. Eliminating the need for various different software to playback your favorite movies, the hassle of opening a specific player each time you need to entertain yourself can now be forgotten as these packs come bundled with all that’s required.