Installs necessary codecs, decoders and filters to extend the support for audio and video playback in popular media players.
If you ever experienced problems viewing or listening to certain media files, chances are that your player didn’t have the right codecs or that some of those codecs were broken. K-Lite Codec Pack Full installs all the right DirectShow filters and media codecs required for your media player to play back a wide array of media files on a Windows platform.
K-Lite codec packages are most straightforward way to make sure that your Windows player plays back and capture all kind of media streams. These packages are therefore meant for media players and capture devices compliant with the DirectShow architecture. These sets of codecs and filters come in four variants, from Basic and Standard to Full and Mega. They differ mainly in the number of filters, codecs, and other related products that each of them installs on your computer. Being all of them free, choosing the right one is basically a matter of the use you make of your media players and therefore your needs for a bigger or smaller variety of codecs.
One great thing about K-Lite Codec Packs is that they install all (or the codecs and filters of your choice) in one go. Not only that – it will also take into account which ones are already installed on your computer, as well as which operating system and architecture you’re using so that only the right ones are saved to your PC during installation. All codecs have been carefully chosen and tested to work together seamlessly, a guarantee that you won’t get if you start to search for filters and codecs on your own and install them manually.
This Full version will also install a copy of Media Player Classic Home Cinema (MPC-HC) on your PC. This player works nicely with all the codecs in the package, avoiding compatibility problems that other popular players may have in certain instances. Besides, unlike a standard copy of MPC-HC (which you can download and install any time), the one included here comes with more codecs and provides you with more frequent updates. Full compatibility between Windows Media Player and K-Lite codec packs is also guaranteed.
This is the playback/capture side of what K-Lite Codec Pack Full offers, and this is aimed at all users. However, the program also comes with a tiny yet powerful codec/filter manager for those who know how codecs and filters really work internally. My advice, given the seamless and efficient installation provided, is not to touch anything in these dialogs unless you really know what you’re doing. As an example, here you can configure your DirectShow filters, set your preferences when it comes to audio outputs, manage your DirectShow and ACM/VFM codes and filters, for both x86 and x64 platforms, tweak your favorite decoders, and so on.
I cannot but recommend to anyone interested in robust and hassle-free media playback and capture capabilities to install both the amazing collection of codecs and filters included in any variant of the K-Lite packs as well as the MPC-HC player. You’ll see your audio and video playback needs improve significantly in no time.
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