One of the main reasons why we may have problems when playing multimedia files in Windows is due to the lack of codecs. If our player does not have the appropriate codecs, we may not see the image of the video, we may not hear the sound, or we may not be able to open it. Although we can research and download the necessary codecs manually, this is usually quite complicated for many users. Therefore, the easiest way to forget about these problems is to resort to a codec pack for Windows, what is popularly known as the Codec Pack .
As its name indicates, a Codec Pack is a program within which we can find a complete collection with all, or almost all, the multimedia codecs that exist to install on Windows. Thanks to them, we can forget about having to manually search for and install any of them, since this pack will take care of copying them all to the computer, configuring us and leaving them ready to be able to play any video or multimedia file without any problem.
Although Windows 10 is capable of serial playback of a large number of formats, some DIVx or MKV files may show problems when playing. Therefore, next we will see what are the best codec packs that we can install on the PC.
Codec Pack problems
The first thing we will ask ourselves is, is it really necessary to install a codec pack on the computer? The truth is that codec packs made much more sense in the Windows Media Player era , when each video used a different codec.
Nowadays the most used codecs are usually available by default in most multimedia players , such as VLC or MPC. However, there are still codecs that are not usually that common, and this is when these video decoders come into play.
There is usually no problem installing codec packs on your computer. If the codecs are not needed they will not be used, and if they are needed we will have them available. However, we must be careful with these packs. Many choose to include adware within the installers, so if we don’t pay attention, we may end up with unwanted software installed on the PC. In addition, they can also have very complicated configurations that, if we configure it wrong, we can lose quality when playing other videos, or generate new problems.
Therefore, we would recommend that, unless we really need these packs because of problems, we do not need them. Today, with Windows 10, they have come to the background.
Best Codec Pack for Windows 10
K-Lite Codec Pack
K-Lite has been, is and will be one of the most complete codecs packs, known and used worldwide. This pack has been solving codec problems since the Windows XP era and, until today, it remains one of the best alternatives that we can install on our computer.
This codec pack will allow us to play on Windows, whatever player we use, any video without any problem. In addition, the quality offered by their codecs is very good, so, unlike what happens with others, we will not see pixelations or videos playing slow when using this pack.
When installing K-Lite Codec Pack in Windows we can choose between the 4 packages that we offer:
- Basic: includes all the codecs necessary to play any type of multimedia file in most of the most popular audio and video formats:
- AVI, MKV, MP4, FLV, MPEG, MOV, TS, M2TS, WMV, RM, RMVB, OGM, WebM
- MP3, FLAC, M4A, AAC, OGG, 3GP, AMR, APE, MKA, Opus, Wavpack, Musepack
- DVD and Blu-ray (after decryption)
- Standard: the same as the Basic pack with some extras. For example, it includes the Media Player Classic Home Cinema player, the MadVR video renderer and the MediaInfo Lite tool to get all the multimedia data about any video clip. Estes is the recommended pack for most users.
- Full: Includes everything in the Standard pack, along with DC-Bass Source Mod, to decode audio in OptimFrog, and GraphStudioNext, to create DirectShow graphics.
- Mega: includes all of the above, plus a number of extras for video encoding and decoding, such as the ffdshow processor and decoder, and alternatives to LAV codecs.
We can also find an Update version, to update our codecs to the latest version without reinstalling anything, and a Beta version, to be up to date assuming possible failures.
We can download K-Lite from the following link .
X Codec Pack
X Codec Pack, also known as XP Codec Pack, is another of the best known that we can install on the computer. Thanks to it, we will be able to reproduce without any problem any audio and video file on our computer without having to install several multimedia players, all from the same place.
This pack is much lighter than the K-Lite Codec Pack and has everything you need to be able to play practically any audio or video file on any player installed in Windows. In addition, it is much easier to install and configure than K-Lite, making it a perfect alternative for those users who do not want complications. This pack also recommends installing Media Player Classic Home Cinema so that, along with your codecs, we forget about the problems when opening multimedia files.
We can download X Codec Pack for free from its website .
Shark007
Another of the most popular codec packs that we can find for Windows 10. Like the previous two, this pack has a wizard that allows us to install the packs that we want to use and configure our computer to be able to play any type of file that is put ahead.
We can download two different versions of this program. The first one, the Standard, brings everything you need to play basic audio and video files, as well as filters to open subtitles in LAV or VSFilter. And the second of them, the Advanced, much more complete for those users who want to have complete control over their codec pack.
We can download Shakr007 for free from their website .
Combined Community Codec Pack
Also known as CCCP, this pack of Russian codecs was one of the best performing in the Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 era. Unlike other codec packs, CCCP sought to be a stable, lightweight and trouble-free pack. By installing it, users could play videos without the problems of other codec packs. In addition, it contains the codecs most used by the anime communities to encode and distribute the series.
Of course, the Combined Community Codec Pack had a very small, fast and simple installer and, most importantly, a powerful uninstaller, which allowed us to delete the program without a trace and without causing problems in Windows.
We can download the latest version of CCCP from the following link . Of course, it should be noted that the latest version dates from 2015, so it is a quite abandoned pack.
Media Player Codec Pack
Another one we couldn’t forget is Media Player Codec Pack. This codec pack is also one of the most complete and easy to install, configure and use. In addition to its easy installation mode, it also has an expert mode that gives users much more comprehensive control over the installation of codecs.
Initially it was designed to supply all the codec dependencies of the classic Windows Media Player, however, since nowadays this player has fallen almost into disuse, its developers recommend users to use it together with other multimedia players, such as Media Player Classic HC or Real Player. Anyway, it is compatible with any DirectShow compatible player.
We can download the latest version of Media Player Codec Pack for free from its website .
Codecs for Movies and TV
Movies and TV is the default multimedia player that is installed in Windows 10. This player is part of the UWP applications of the operating system. And therefore, despite its excellent operation and good compatibility, it is not compatible with the codecs that we can install through the previous packs. This means that if we try to play an unsupported file, we will not be able to do this by installing K-Lite or any of the previous packs.
However, Microsoft has provided its Movies and TV with the possibility of supporting additional formats through plugins. These should be downloaded from the Microsoft Store by searching, for example, ” Web Multimedia Extensions ” to add support for OGG, Vorbis or Theora.
We can also find other codecs for the default Windows 10 player, such as for AV1, HEVC or MPEG-2. All of them are available in the Microsoft Store, and most should be free.
Anyway, the Movies and TV app itself will warn us when a codec is missing when trying to play a video, it will take us to the Microsoft Store and allow us to download it directly without having to search for it. Therefore, if we have never had problems, we can forget about them.