“Windows Media Player cannot play the file because the necessary video codec is not installed on your computer.”
“Invalid file format.”
These are just two of the more common error messages you may encounter when trying to play an audio or video file. The cause of this very common error is the lack of a codec. It is also easily solved by downloading the appropriate codecs from the support sites. But it begs the question – what are codecs and how do they help us play back media on our computers?
Definition of Codec
Software or device that manipulates a digital media file (such as a song or video), such as encoding, compressing, and/or decompressing the data in it. Media players use codecs to play back video and audio files like MP3. To explain with a simple analogy, codecs are like translators. They work on some specific data and convert that data into something that the various media players that are on our computer can easily understand.
A bolder explanation
The word ‘codec’ is a blend of compressor-decompressor or alternatively encoder-decoder. Codecs encode data for transmission, storage, or encryption. It then decodes it for playback or editing. So an encoder performs the compression (encoding) role and the decoder performs the decompression (decoding) role. Some codecs have both of these components, and some codecs include only one of them.
How Codecs Help Us
Video and music files are large chunks of data. Although the internet speed is good, it will take some time for them to download to our computer. Codecs help to shrink their size so they can be transferred faster. The compressor compresses the file size before transmission, and the decompressor decompresses it again during playback. Without codecs, downloading audio and video files will take longer.
Codecs example
There are hundreds of codecs out there and there is a wide variety. There are codecs for video, music, voice, text, and more. Wikipedia has a detailed page about it. Then there are the free codecs and the ones that you have to pay for. Thankfully, the popular ones MP3, WMA, Real Video, Real Audio, DivX and XviD are all free and easily available. Codecs are also available as codec packs. K-Lite Codec Pack is the one you should download and install. Some other codec packs are the XP Codec Pack and the Hybrid Community Codec Pack.
Read more about Codec
Here are some other resources you can follow to understand codecs:
- Windows Support – Codecs FAQ
- Movie decoder
Hope this explanation of what codecs are and how they work will help you out with everyday problems you might face while playing media files. If you have something to add, we’d love to hear it. Share those insights in the comments.
Categories: How to
Source: thpttranhungdao.edu.vn/en/
