- Quick specs
- Price: Free
- Operating system: Windows Vista, Windows Me, Windows NT, Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows 98
- Date added: April 12, 2007
- Total Downloads: 3,930,679
- Downloads last week: 16,574
- See full specifications
A newer version of Windows Essentials Media Codec Pack is available.
(Download doesn't provide access to previous versions of this program.)
- Average user rating: stars out of 342 votes
See all user reviews
Publisher's description
From MediaCodec :Windows Essentials Codec Pack is a collection of audio and video DirectShow codecs and filters. With Windows Essentials Codec Pack you should be able to play 99% of all movies and music files that you download off the Internet, stay up to date with the latest codecs with the Audio/Video Codec Update Service, and eliminate the many conflicts and errors caused by using multiple codecs to decode the same file types.
Windows Essentials Codec Pack is designed as a user-friendly near complete solution for all your video and audio needs, with it you can play audio CDs, DVDs, (S)VCDs, and XCDs on the fly, and it adds support for 3GP, AAC, AC3, APE, AVI, DivX, 3ivx, DAT, h.264, x264, Nero Digital, DTS, FLV, FLAC, HD-MOV, MPEG-1/2, M4A, MP3, MP4, MO3, MOD, MKV, OFR, TTA, OGG/OGM, S3M, Vorbis, VOB, XviD, XM, WV, and UMX formats so you could play any video/audio file with your favorite DirectShow media player or with the (included) Media Player Classic.
What's new in this version:
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User reviews of Windows Essentials Media Codec Pack 1
- Average user rating: 3.6 stars out of 342 votes
- My rating: 0 stars Write review
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Showing 5 of 218 user reviewsSee all 218 user reviews
This software version | All versions -
25 out of 28 people found this review helpful
Version: Windows Essentials Media Codec Pack 1
"better than VLC for overall videos"
Pros: I have now kicked out VLC. (version 8.5, and had versions prior to this) - this is now my main video player.
Although my testing was not extensive, it has handled every format i have presented to is thus far.
Fairly simple and easy to use. (At least its not the nightmare complication that VLC is)
Free (GNU GPL licence, which is free in more ways than the general public realise)
It plays many FLV files i have which i thought were dud when i was playing them through VLC, where they either; did not play, or sound but no video, or played for a small portion only. This just plays all of them without hassle.
Cons: I have decided i will now use this for most of my video watching except for when i want to take notes with seminar or tutorial type videos where i need to go backwards and forwards which this doesnt have. One can slide the pointer but this seems to take a long time for it to come into play and is not practical. (I use the jetAudio player for such, as i can do that with short cut keys and easily rewind in small increments to script the section of the video i need to have in written form)
Being their first version of player, i imagine at some point, a version will include fast forward and fast rewind buttons or short cuts.
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15 out of 16 people found this review helpful
Version: Windows Essentials Media Codec Pack 1
Pros: this is wonderful. i had about 4 or 6 other programs installed for .flv, div, .avi etc, but this is just remarkable, it contains every codec in existence! I recommend this program to every windows user, even if they are not tech smart.
Cons: it would have been useful to show the different filters versions
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7 out of 9 people found this review helpful
Version: Windows Essentials Media Codec Pack 1
"A must have for windows media player."
Pros: This codec bundle installs seemlessly into windows media player so there is no need to install different media players for different formats. With this bundle installed I haven't found a format that my windows media player won't accept. So far so good!
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13 out of 15 people found this review helpful
Version: Windows Essentials Media Codec Pack 1
"So easy to install. Must have for all Windows users!"
Pros: After messing with video and audio playback on Windows for over 10 years this has got to be the easiest "universal" package I have seen to date. So easy your grandmother could install it. No spyware or other garbage. Works great in Vista. Includes a fantastically efficient playback program called "Media player classic" which seems to make playback far easier when compared with "Windows media player.
Cons: I'm using Vista Home basic. Some files required the use of the VLC media player due to the included media player classic not being able to play them, The codecs worked great, but it seems media player classic occasionally can't open SOME files. If this was my codec pack I would include both VLC and media player classic.Otherwise this is a fantastic package for anyone who enjoys audio and video on a Windows computer. BIG THUMBS UP, FIVE STARS, ETC
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2 out of 2 people found this review helpful
Version: Windows Essentials Media Codec Pack 1
Pros: Although it is a collection of codecs for audio and video to solve some problems, I proved its effectiveness playing a dvd with Media Player Classic when Windows Media Player couldnīt. I donīt know much about technical questions of this theme, but if the program helps me to see clearly my cds and dvds and I havenīt had any kind of troubles until today, I think this program is o.k.
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