Windows Essentials Media Codec Pack 1

Publisher's description of Windows Essentials Media Codec Pack

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.

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User reviews of Windows Essentials Media Codec Pack

• Average user rating: out of 255 votes
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  Windows Essentials Media Codec Pack

  better than VLC for overall videos

  by: peace_In_Being on 28-Apr-2007 08:22:22 PM

  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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  Windows Essentials Media Codec Pack

  wonderful codec pack

  by: Nas Borjk on 16-May-2007 10:14:48 AM

  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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  Windows Essentials Media Codec Pack

  A must have for windows media player.

  by: ritchie58 on 31-Jan-2008 02:57:17 PM

  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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  Windows Essentials Media Codec Pack

  So easy to install. Must have for all Windows users!

  by: xero69 on 23-Jun-2007 09:49:09 AM

  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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  Windows Essentials Media Codec Pack

  It works and does it well !

  by: deoquixxx on 08-May-2008 04:14:31 PM

  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 couldn´t. I don´t know much about technical questions of this theme, but if the program helps me to see clearly my cds and dvds and I haven´t had any kind of troubles until today, I think this program is o.k.

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