![]() |
Windows Media Player cannot play the file. You may encounter this error message for one of the following reasons:
Typically, the Player automatically downloads and installs required codecs as needed. However, the Player was unable to download and install the required codec for this file, most likely because a codec is not available for the content you want to play, or because the Internet security settings for your browser are set too high and do not allow you to download the codec.
Try adjusting your Internet security settings to allow codecs to be downloaded to your computer.
To allow codecs to be downloaded to your computer
The security level is set to Medium.
For more information about setting Internet security levels, see Windows Help.
Notes
Supported file types
The following table lists the file types (formats) supported by Windows Media Player.
File type (format) | File name extension |
Music CD Playback (CD audio) | .cda |
Audio Interchange File Format (AIFF) | .aif, .aifc, and .aiff |
Windows Media audio and video files | .asf, .asx, .wax, .wm, .wma, .wmd, .wmp, .wmv, .wmx, .wpl, and .wvx |
Windows audio and video files | .avi and .wav |
Windows Media Player skins | .wmz |
Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) | .mpeg, .mpg, .m1v, .mp2, .mpa, .mpe, .mp2v*, and .mpv2 |
Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) | .mid, .midi, and .rmi |
AU (UNIX) | .au and .snd |
MP3 | .mp3 and .m3u |
DVD video | .vob |
Macromedia Flash | .swf |
If the file type you are trying to play is included in this table, then the file may have been encoded by using a codec that is not supported by Windows Media Player. If this is the case, Windows Media Player cannot play the file.
Notes