Windows 7, unlike previous Microsoft operating systems, comes with extended capabilities to play video files out of the box. The operating system comes with codecs to play Divx, Xvid, H.264, AAC and several other popular formats. Those videos can be played with any media player like the included Windows Media Player. But there are still codecs that are not supported by the operating system right away and users who come upon videos that do not play in their favorite media player are faced with a difficulty decision.
They can either hunt down the specific codec that is needed to play the video (see Video Inspector or Missing video codecs), install a media player that uses binary codecs (which means that the codecs come with the media player and will only work in that media player) or download and install a Windows 7 codec pack to add the codecs to the computer system.
Windows 7 users should not install the first codec pack that they come upon as it has happened in the past that codec packs were used to infect a computer system with malicious software.
We recommend the following two codec packs for Windows 7:
Windows 7 Codecs
The Windows 7 Codecs offered here do not change or interfere with the support Microsoft has provided concerning native codec support in Windows Media Player 12 and Media Center. Alternative hardware accelerated (DXVA) H264 codecs are also provided by the codec installation for use by all players.
The following filetypes are enabled and SUPPORTED by the installation of the Windows 7 Codecs.
amr | mpc | ofr | divx | mka | ape | flac | evo | flv | m4b | mkv | ogg | ogv | ogm | rmvb | xvid
All of the above filetypes can be queued to the Windows Media Player Playlist using a right-click.
Windows 7 Codec Pack Download: here
K-Lite Codec Pack
There are several different variants of the K-Lite Codec Pack. Ranging from a very small bundle that contains only the most essential decoders to a large and more comprehensive bundle.
Download K-Lite Codec Pack: here
A good alternative to those Windows 7 codec packs are players like SMPlayer or SPlayer which can play all video formats without codec pack installation.
Related Articles:
Windows 8 Codec Pack AvailableWindows Vista Codec
Digital Camera Codec Pack For Windows
Find out which codec is missing for playback
Scan For Codec Problems With Codec Toolbox
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I would recommend shark007 if you want a one-stop solution. If you want control over your codecs then follow this guide:
http://windows7news.com/2009/07/22/ultimate-guide-to-codecs-for-windows-7-media-center/
Let’s not forget VLC. Serves the same purpose as SMPlayer or SPlayer. Plays pretty much everything I’ve thrown at it and doesn’t need to be installed if you use the portable version.
Win7codecs\filters\madFlac.ax
My virus protection is reporting this as a trojan
There’s also CCCP, it’s said to work with Windows 7.
http://www.cccp-project.net/
My vote is for VLC as well. Doesn’t get much simpler.
I’m using K-Lite Codec Pack (full version)
http://www.codecsdownload.com/
So far, no problems. It works fine in Windows 7.
Thanks for the info.
I’ll appreciate any experience with K-Lite.