2 days ago
Microsoft has had a unusual narration pinch section video playback for The past respective years. It’s 1 of those features that was caught in The purgatory that was created pinch The commencement of Windows 10, arsenic Microsoft hung onto bequest apps for illustration Windows Media Player while trying to push into a new, modern era. We’ve travel a agelong measurement since that point, and Windows 11 is The closest to offering a full-featured video subordinate that Microsoft has been in years.
Media Player, The app built into Windows 11 for video and audio playback, has travel a agelong measurement in The 2 years since it was introduced. It’s amazingly feature-rich for specified a elemental application. Even pinch updates and caller additions to Media Player, though, it still falls short of free, open-source options because of 2 cardinal issues.
The history
There’s immoderate history present that’s important to address. Don’t confuse Media Player pinch Windows Media Player. They’re different apps. The second is now known arsenic Windows Media Player Legacy, and it’s The app you’re acquainted pinch if you’ve ever interacted pinch Microsoft’s media subordinate anterior to Windows 11. It Can make playlists, show videos, and rip your CDs. It hasn’t rather grown retired of The Vista-era trimmings, but astatine this point, it really doesn’t request to.
The app Media Player we person coming was built retired of The leftovers of Groove Music. This was Microsoft’s euphony app, which Microsoft discontinued and rebranded nether Media Player. Instead of conscionable audio, Media Player supports video, arsenic well. Some features, specified arsenic ripping CDs, weren’t disposable erstwhile The app launched a mates of years ago. Since then, Microsoft has rolled retired The features of The bequest Windows Media Player, making Media Player your one-stop shop for audio and video.
I’d forgive you for reasoning Media Player isn’t immoderate good, though. Groove Music was infamous in Windows 10 and The early days of Windows 11, and I ideate astir group ditched The built-in subordinate and recovered a video/music app of their own. I surely did pinch VLC Player. I was shocked really acold Media Player has travel since it was introduced 2 years ago, though.
It has a batch of features, and for astir people, it has everything you request in a simple-to-understand format. It besides looks great, which is simply a batch much than I Can opportunity for different video players. There are 2 captious issues that still clasp it back, though.
What’s right
The biggest point Media Player has going for it is that it’s easy to use. That usually intends sacrificing features — we each cognize an app that looks for illustration it was designed for Windows XP has much features, right? — but Media Player is amazingly robust for playing videos. Out of The gate, you person support for conscionable astir each codec you could need, minus 1 captious omission that I’ll get to in The adjacent section.
Compared to thing for illustration VLC, you person The main controls you’d want for playing video wrong easy reach. You Can set The playback speed, tweak The audio pinch an equalizer, and harvest in to debar achromatic bars. There are moreover immoderate image settings, allowing you to alteration The brightness, contrast, and saturation. VLC surely goes deeper pinch sharpening, an audio compressor, civilization overlays, and truthful overmuch more. But for The immense mostly of videos you’ll play, Media Player has what you need.
There are 2 things that spell beyond The basics pinch Media Player, though: subtitles and audio tracks, and casting. In The aged Windows Media Player, you could adhd subtitles to videos that didn’t person them included, but it was a manual process that happened in The File Explorer. With The caller Media Player, you Can conscionable adhd a record straight by pressing The Caption button wrong The app. It’s a mini change, but it makes Media Player a batch easier to use.
Subtitles and audio tracks are very important for my section videos, too. I watch a batch of anime, and I’ll person to often edifice to archived copies of older shows and movies owed to immoderate unfortunate watercourse of licensing disputes. It’s captious that I Can easy set The subtitle and audio way that a record is utilizing while playing a video, and Media Player makes that simple. That assumes you person The audio and subtitle tracks you need, and that they’re precocious quality, however. VLC still takes The barroom if you request to sync things up.
Casting is simply a large addition, too. Media Player hooks into The casting features built into Windows 11, and it Can watercourse your surface to immoderate instrumentality that supports casting. The only downside present is that it streams your full screen, truthful you’ll request to extremity The casting aft your video is done playing.
Two awesome problems
MicrosoftFor astir people, Media Player gets The occupation done for video. But location are 2 awesome issues pinch The app that invalidate its upsides.
First, HEVC. If you person a video that encoded pinch HEVC, aliases H.265, you person to bargain a $1 add-on in The Microsoft Store to watch that video in Media Player. It’s not The costs of The add-on — I deliberation astir of america could spare $1 — but it’s a slap in The look to complaint for specified a widely-used codec in The first place. You’ll commonly find HEVC in video editing and seizure applications, truthful you could easy grounds aliases edit a video and not beryllium capable to watch it in Media Player.
What’s much frustrating is that Microsoft offered HEVC support for free previously. In Windows 11 22H2, you could find a free download for HEVC codec from The Microsoft Store. That listing is now gone, and if you someway negociate to find it pinch a much caller type of Windows, The Microsoft Store will artifact you from installing it. There are ways to still get The free type — I’ll nexus this Reddit thread and fto you return it from location — but you shouldn’t person to spell done The hassle.
The charge, apparently, is owed to licensing fees. I’m honestly not judge 1 measurement aliases The other, and I’m surely nary master erstwhile it comes to patent licensing agreements. I do cognize that HEVC is supported in each awesome browser, including Edge, Chrome, and Safari, and that it’s been supported in hardware betwixt CPUs and GPUs since 2015, however. That’s connected apical of that truth that Microsoft antecedently offered it for free.
The different awesome rumor comes down to Media Player’s history. It was built retired of an app created for music, and location are acold much features focused there. For instance, you Can drawback metadata for your euphony online automatically done The app — you can’t do The aforesaid for video. You besides person nary measurement to find subtitles for videos done Media Player, dissimilar VLC and its VLSub hold that hooks into Opensubtitles.org straight from The app.
In some cases, The logic down these deficiency of features comes down to money. Microsoft is 1 of The largest companies in The world, and there’s nary uncertainty that outer databases for illustration Open Subtitles and licensing agencies would salivate astatine a trim of Microsoft’s pastry considering The monolithic instal guidelines of Windows. That’s The costs of doing business, though, and intelligibly Microsoft thinks that costs isn’t justified.
Regardless of The reason, The truth remains that The Media Player app in Windows 11 falls short of a multitude of free options that person been disposable for decades. I usage VLC for my purposes, but location are a ton of different options including Media Player Classic (MPC) and its variants, FFmpeg, and Pot Player.
Interesting Read:
English (US) · 
Indonesian (ID) · 