How to Play Unplayable Videos on Your PC

Common Reasons for Video Playback Errors

It’s often frustrating to find a video file on your PC that fails to play, especially if it played previously. 

There are various factors that affect the playback of a video file. These factors are: 

1. Your media player is corrupt and cannot play it.

2. Codecs are missing from your computer.

3. The file extension is unrecognized.

4. A DRM decryption key is missing.

5. The video file is corrupt.

6. The online video service has a problem.

Some of these errors can be resolved; others cannot. Let’s take a look at how to play online and local videos on your PC and fix any errors.

1. Confirm the Video File Extension

Most video files feature recognizable extensions. For example, you’re probably familiar with WMV, AVI, MP4, or MKV. Many other file extensions are in use for video, however. (Some of these denote the format of the video files; others are merely container formats.)

In some cases, the file extension might have been changed. It’s important to find the correct file extension, although this might be a process of trial and error.

If your video file won’t play and you’re convinced it should try changing the file extension:

1. Open Windows Explorer

2. Go to File > Options > View

3. Find Hide extensions for known file types

4. Clear the checkmark, then click Apply

5. Click OK to confirm

You can then see the file extensions of your video file. This will appear as described above. To change the video file extension, first, make a note of what it is to start with.

Then use the right-click menu to find Rename and change the extension to another recognized suffix. When asked Are you sure you want to change it, click Yes.

Changing the file extension doesn’t work often, but it’s worth taking the time to ensure the correct extension is set.

2. Upgrade to VLC Media Player

Windows 10 features two media players pre-installed. First is the legacy Windows Media Player 12, which while regularly updated, was released with Windows 7 back in 2009. Second is Film & TV, a video playing app supporting a wide selection of video formats.

At first glance, the Film & TV app might be the smart option. After all, a modern video player should be able to play all file formats that came before.

However, this is not necessarily the case. To save money on licensing, Microsoft has omitted support for some video codecs from Windows 10. As such, a video that might have worked under Windows 7 or 8 might not play in Windows 10 using the preinstalled media players.

The solution to this is simple, however: use VLC media player instead. There’s a very good chance the video file will play.

3. Install the Latest Video Codecs

To play any video file that exists in the wildest corners of the web, you need two things:

1. A Media Player (or the software)

2. A Codec

A Media Player is a software dedicated to playing audio and video files.

A Codec is a software that knows how to convert videos into a viewable state.

Many codecs can be used to encode video. In some sense, the codec is like the key and your video is like a locked file. You need the same key or the codec to view the file that was used to encode the file. This causes problems if you don’t have the right codec installed.

The VLC media player is the solution to many video playback issues. It can play almost any video format, from XviD to Real Video, and even optical discs. Codecs are built into the VLC media player, although other techniques are used to playback videos.

Furthermore, VLC media player can play partial files, which can prove useful in establishing the viability of a file.

If you’re already using a different media player and don’t want to switch, don’t worry. You can install all the codecs you need using the K-Lite Codec Pack. This is a bundle of free codecs that should allow you to play any video and audio files.

4. DRM Issues Are Preventing Playback

In other cases, some video files are locked to a specific media player.

This is mostly the case with the M4V Video format, a DRM-encoded version of the MP4 format. Unlike MP4, M4V can only be played on Apple’s media player software.

M4V files are purchased from the Apple TV App, and previously iTunes. So if you have used this service to buy video files and they won’t open in your regular software, use Apple’s media player software.