The Windows inbuilt Windows Media Player is at a loss what to do to all popular video formats and HD audio formats existing on the Internet. However, as long as you have Windows installed a codecs pack (i.e., all kinds of audio/video decoders), then Windows Media Player will instantly become a universal, all-around multimedia player. Of course, this solution same applies to other media players on Windows.

As the ancestor of audio and video decoders, also one of the few best codec packs, K-Lite Codec Pack has been world famous and well received for a long time. It integrates the vast majority of video and audio codecs on Internet in one place, so as to extend the compatibility of various media players to media files to an extreme, and enables them to decode/play many more audio and video formats than they could.

For many users around the world, K-Lite Codec Pack is definitely a must-have tool for playing videos with good reputation. It is able to load third-party subtitles, builds in the classic Media Player Classic player. In particular, compared with many 3rd party players except Windows Media Player that integrate some codecs, it can address user requirements in the field of video decoding in the most efficient and most direct way. In other words, with help of K-Lite Codec Pack, basically you can abandon any other third party video players and return back to Windows' own native, pure, clean and fast WMP.

System Requirements

  • From version 14, K-Lite Codec Pack does not support Windows XP any more

Edition Statement

There are four variants of the K-Lite Codec Pack:
Edition Details
Basic The basic variant contains everything you need to play all the common video file formats. Such as AVI, MKV, MP4, OGM, and FLV. This pack is for those who like a small no-nonsense pack. It is small, but powerful.
Standard The standard variant contains a few additional features compared to the basic variant. It contains Media Player Classic, which is an excellent player for video files. This pack is recommended for the average user.
Full The full variant has some extras compared to the standard variant. It additionally contains GraphStudioNext, and a few extra DirectShow filters.
Mega The mega variant is the most complete pack. It additionally contains VFW/ACM codecs for video encoding/editing.
*** For detailed tables with comparisons of the abilities and contents of the different variants of the codec pack, have a look at the comparison of abilities and comparison of contents pages.

Related Links

Download URLs

License Version Download Size
Freeware Latest n/a
(Homepage)