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Suddenly, Windows Media Player doesn't play .avi files

R

raildogg

Lifer
Hey everyone, since I have had this computer, about 2.5 years or so, I've never had this problem. All types of media related files have been opened without issue by Windows Media Player. All of a sudden, today, WMP cannot open .avi files. Really strange.

I downloaded the K-Lite Codec Pack but still, I am wondering what can be the cause of this. Or if there is a more serious problem. I thinking of downloading the Media Player Codec Pack as suggested by corkyg in another thread. Good move?

Appreciate any responses.

Thanks.
 
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I thinking of downloading the Media Player Codec Pack as suggested by corkyg in another thread. Good move?[/quote]Yes why not. myself i use vlc for avi files.
 
Codec packs always screw up my system. I've just resorted to using vlc for everything, much less hassle.
 
As previously mentioned, VLC will play just about anything. So will Windows Media Classic.

On the codec issue, the only pack that hasnt had wonkey side effects and allows me to play pretty much every file format out there in Windows Media Center is Shark007 codecs. It plays avi, mp4, iso, TS, Bluray, DTSHD....everything Ive thrown at it. And I use my HTPC almost every day never a problem in about 3 years. Remember with codecs...you dont want multiple codec packs installed. So if you try shark's, make sure and uninstall everything else first (codec wise).
 
I think I will use VLC media player for .avi files. Don't want to mess with codec packs. Kind of weird that WMP would stop playing them. Hmm, Windows Media Class sounds interesting. Might want to give it a try. How does it compare to VLC media player?

Thanks guys.
 
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Start Menu > type troubleshooting > type media in search > select Windows Media Player Settings and reset settings to default
 
raildogg said:
Hey everyone, since I have had this computer, about 2.5 years or so, I've never had this problem. All types of media related files have been opened without issue by Windows Media Player. All of a sudden, today, WMP cannot open .avi files. Really strange.

I downloaded the K-Lite Codec Pack but still, I am wondering what can be the cause of this. Or if there is a more serious problem. I thinking of downloading the Media Player Codec Pack as suggested by corkyg in another thread. Good move?

.....
Click to expand...
I think codec packs cause more problems nowadays and have become obsolete since media player/mpc-hc/vlc should all play any sort of media files with the exception of .mkv for wmp.

Wmp is probably messed up and something like a system check like sfc /scannow is needed.
 
One more vote for VLC/MPC. I tend to use MPC as my primary because I like the interface better and it plays nicer with seeking generally. If it wont play the one off file, I just open that one in VLC and 99% of the time it works just fine.
 
I will use VLC media player for files that WMP cannot open. I did try sfc /scannow and this is the message I got at the end, "Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations." But WMP still cannot open .avi files even though its the default program for opening them. Not too worried about it but just curious as to why this can happen.

I appreciate your responses, everyone. 🙂
 
raildogg said:
I will use VLC media player for files that WMP cannot open. I did try sfc /scannow and this is the message I got at the end, "Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations." But WMP still cannot open .avi files even though its the default program for opening them. Not too worried about it but just curious as to why this can happen.

I appreciate your responses, everyone. 🙂
Click to expand...

If the AVI files open with other media players and play just fine, its most likely a codec thing. Either the AVIs are encoded funny in some way WMP does not support (did these specific AVIs ever play in WMP?), or the codec settings for WMP were fudged up by something. If it's a newer version of WMP you can always uninstall it, restart, and reinstall it. The installer packages should be available on the technet site somewhere, or you could use windows update.
 
Mushkins said:
If the AVI files open with other media players and play just fine, its most likely a codec thing. Either the AVIs are encoded funny in some way WMP does not support (did these specific AVIs ever play in WMP?), or the codec settings for WMP were fudged up by something. If it's a newer version of WMP you can always uninstall it, restart, and reinstall it. The installer packages should be available on the technet site somewhere, or you could use windows update.
Click to expand...

VLC opens them just fine. These are new .avi files so I'm not sure if its them or not. I might try some other .avi files to see. This is the newest version of WMP according to the update utility that comes with WMP. Thanks.
 
raildogg said:
VLC opens them just fine. These are new .avi files so I'm not sure if its them or not. I might try some other .avi files to see. This is the newest version of WMP according to the update utility that comes with WMP. Thanks.
Click to expand...

I would install a new version of VLC as well then. That should update your codecs as well and will probably make WMP play the files.
 
blackangst1 said:
As previously mentioned, VLC will play just about anything. So will Windows Media Classic.
Click to expand...
As will any player IF YOU HAVE THE CODECS FOR IT remember
icon7.gif
 
What kind of avi file is it? If you search "gspot codec" it is a nice app that identifies what media files actually are. You first off will find out whether it truly is an .avi file or is a different video file format, then what specific video codec was used to encode the video.
 
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