Some players come loaded with too many features and too many codecs - not MPCStar. MPCStar is a universal video player that can play most formats of films downloaded from the internet. MPCStar has been developed using open source libraries, so it's highly customisable if you have any programming knowledge. One of the best features however is a pop-up blocker which prevents pop-ups appearing that sometimes come loaded with films.

To ensure smooth playback and not get weighed down with too many codecs, MPCStar contains only the major codecs including Media Player Classic, FFDshow Codec Pack,
RealPlayer Codecs, ActiveX controls, QuickTime Codecs and DirectVobSub (a.k.a. VSFilter). The only problem is that these codecs are regularly updated and there appears to be no automatic update function but overall, this is one of the simplest and most powerful players I've tried since VLC player.

Download MPCStar 3.1 in Softonic

The K-Lite Mega Codec Pack is an invaluable resource for anyone looking to enjoy video and audio on their Windows PC. Frequently updated, it includes all the codecs available in three of the most popular codec packs available on Softonic.

As video and audio encoding develops, it can be really hard to keep abreast of the latest compression techniques and codecs. K-Lite Mega Codec Pack does this for you by putting pretty much every codec in use, on your computer.

The K-Lite Mega Codec Pack combines the contents of three codec packs:

• K-Lite Codec Pack Full
• QuickTime Alternative
• Real Alternative

Essential for anyone using audio or video apps on their PC.

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There's nothing more annoying than downloading or ripping a film and then reaslising you don't have th right codecs to play it.

Or worse, the codecs that you have are corrupt and don't playback properly. If you've found yourself in this situation then m5Studio Codec is a neat little package which brings together most of the most important codecs you'll need. m5Studio Codec includes all the major codecs you'll need to make sure that you'll never have problems playing a film again.

Among the codecs included in m5Studio Codec are DivX or XviD, Ogg Vorbis or Cinepak or AC3 plus some some lesser known ones such as CoreAVC and Fraunhoffer IIS. Installation is simply a matter of double clicking EXE file and you've got a few configuration controls to control exactly how you want the codecs to perform.

m5Studio Codec is a useful codec package that will be able to playback most of the major formats that you can download or rip films to.

Download m5Studio Codec 8.3a in Softonic

I'm very picky when it comes to installing codec packs on my PC: I don't like bloating the system with useless files and tools that won't be of any use or will only cause incompatibility issues.

Luckily I don't have this problem with XP Codec Pack. This compact, handy codec pack has always been my first choice whenever I need to install codecs or upgrade them on any PC. Why? Well, I like the fact that XP Codec Pack focuses on the most popular formats, and so it's not overloaded with codecs most computer users will hardly use. Secondly, it's dead easy to install and lets you choose exactly what you want, both for codecs and tools. Finally, it's incredibly stable and highly compatible: I've never had a single problem with codec since I use it.

Of course, I'm by no means saying that XP Codec Pack is perfect. There are a few flaws that should be pointed out. The most demanding users will surely miss a wider array of formats, as well as more codec-related tools like the ones you find in other codec packs.

XP Codec Pack is a great choice for those who don't need a massive selection of codecs and prefer a simpler, hassle-free codec kit for the most popular audio and video formats.

Download XP Codec Pack 2.4.1 in Softonic

Sometimes when you try to play music or a movie in your computer, you may find that either the image or the sound are not being properly played. These issues are probably a question of codecs, and you can solve them all with K-Lite Codec Pack.

This comprehensive kit includes all the codecs you need to have on your system if you want to play all audio and video formats without any problems. The full package includes quite a bunch of codecs, but the good thing is that you can choose which ones to install and which ones to leave out during the installation process.

Besides codecs, the K-Lite Codec Pack also includes several utilities that can come in very handy when dealing with audio and video files. Among others, you'll find tools to tweak and fix codecs, work with subtitles and obtain detailed information about any selected media file.

The only drawback I could point out about K-Lite Codec Pack is that it all may seem confusing for the novice user who doesn't really know what a codec is, and therefore can't really choose which ones to install. My advice here is to simply install all of them: it's the only way to make sure you'll be able to play pretty much any audio or video file on your PC.

K-Lite Codec Pack is a full featured collection of codecs that enables you to play just about any audio and video format on your PC without any problems.

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K-Lite Codec Pack is a collection of codecs and related tools. Codec is short for Compressor-Decompressor. Codecs are needed for encoding and decoding (playing) audio and video. The K-Lite Codec Pack is designed as a user-friendly solution for playing all your movie files. With the K-Lite Codec Pack you should be able to play all the popular movie formats and even some rare formats.

The K-Lite Codec Pack has a couple of major advantages compared to other codec packs:

• It it always very up-to-date with the latest versions of the codecs
• It is very user-friendly and the installation is fully customizable
• It's easy to make an unattended installation
• It has been very well tested, so that the package doesn't contain any conflicting codecs
• It is a very complete package, containing everything you need to play your movies
• There are different packages. From small to extra-large

There are three versions of the K-Lite Codec Pack:

Basic contains only the most essential things. It contains everything you need to be able to play the two most popular and widespread formats, DivX and XviD. It is small enough to fit on a single floppy. Also great for including on your movie cds.

Standard contains everything you need to play all the most commonly used formats. This package should be enough for the average user.

Full contains even more codecs. It also has encoding support for various formats. This package is for power users and people who do their own encodings.

Download K-Lite Codec Pack Standard 3.20 in Softonic

MediaCoder is a free universal audio/video batch transcoder, putting together lots of excellent audio/video codecs and tools from the open source community into an all-in-one solution, capable of transcoding among different audio/video formats with many extra features.

Download MediaCoder 0.6.1.4140 in Softonic

Although it might appear like some sort of Communist software, CCCP is actually just a pack of codecs to help just about any video run on your system.

The full title is the "Combined Community Codec Pack". In reality, it's more like a filter pack than a codec pack but the developers say that "filter doesn't begin with C and we wanted a good acronym"! For anyone who understands Russian, the developers also like to point out that the name is also a pun on the Russian name Союз Советских Социалистических Республик, which is transliterated into the Latin alphabet as "Soyuz Sovietskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik", or "Union of Soviet Socialist Republics", abbreviated as "СССР" or "USSR". Anyway, the CCCP codec pack was created to replace the filter packs provided by other groups which simply often did not work properly or broke compatibility for other formats. In reality, it is an extremely powerful Codec pack, playing back effortlessly most popular formats and some unpopular ones too. There are now fiddly options to get it working although if you have other codec packs installed, you may experience some conflicts or significant slowdown in reproduction of your films.

However, overall, this is an impressive pack which deals with just about anything and I quite like the attitude of the developers and their ironic communist branding.

Download Combined Community Codec Pack 2008-01-24 in Softonic

With this package installed, the developers claim you won't need to install any other codec or filter. Codecs have always been a pain in the butt. This package takes from the best, all the big name creators, several small guys too. The developers have tracked down the latest updates and tested their functionality. All possible conflicts are already dealt with.

It does not contain a media player. It does not associates filetypes. With this package installed you will be able to use any media player (limited by the players capabilities) to play DVD's, movies and video clips such as quicktime, realmedia, avi, mpeg, Flv, swf, wmv, etc. Streaming video is supported in most web browsers. By default you shouldn't need to make any adjustments to enjoy your media content immediately.

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The Advanced Codec Pack is mainly for use by encoders, it features a large number of codec's/filters and also some additional tools. The package will enable you to playback and encode most major formats currently available.

Installation of the package is made easy for users through the informative menu's.
Options that may cause problems have a warning in the description pane, the installer will also unselect options that my cause conflicts.

Includes:

• DivX 6.1 Pro Video Codec
• XviD 1.0.3 Video (Encoder) Codec - Koepi's 20/12/04 Build
• XviD 1.1 Beta 2 Video (Encoder) Codec - Koepi's 04/04/05 Build
• ffdshow Video Codec 20051129 by Milan Cutka
• x264 h.264/AVC VFW Video (Encoder) Codec Revision 385
• Microsoft - Windows Media 9 Video Codec 9.0.1.369
• On2 Technologies VP7 Video (Decoder) Codec 7.0.8
• On2 Technologies VP6 Video Codec 6.4.2
• Huffyuv Lossless Video Codec 2.2.0.1
• Ligos Indeo XP Video Codec 5.2820.15.58
• Intel Indeo Video Codec 4.51.16.2
• Intel Indeo Video Codec 3.24.1.2
• InterVideo Video Filter 7.0.27.130
• InterVideo Audio Filter 7.0.27.130
• CyberLink DVD Video/SP Filter 6.0.0.1006
• CyberLink DTV Video/SP Filter 3.5.0.3629
• CyberLink AC3 Filter 6.0.0.1027
• DScaler MPEG Filter 5.0.0.6
• AC3Filter 1.01a RC5
• DVBPortal HDTV Pump Filter 1.0.7
• RadLight PVA Splitter 1.0.0.0
• DSMyth MythTV Filters 0.4.0.1
• AC3ACM v1.2 by fccHandler – para usar en VirtualDub-MPEG2
• AVI - AC3/DTS Converter + DTS/AC3 Source Filter By Gabest
• AAC Parser Filter 1.1.0 - By Tom Judd
• Core AAC Playback Filter 1.2.0.573
• Core FLAC Playback Filter 0.4.0.464
• Core WavPack Playback Filter 1.0.3
• RadLight APE Playback Filter 1.0.0.4 - for Monkey Audio
• RadLight MPC Playback Filter 1.0.0.4 - for MusePack
• RadLight OFR Playback Filter 1.0.0.1 - for OptimFROG
• RadLight TTA Playback Filter 1.0.0.0 - for True Audio
• Sony ATRAC3 0.98 ACM Codec also known as MDLP2
• DivX ACM Audio Codec también conocido como Windows Media Audio 4.1
• Microsoft - Windows Media Audio 7.0 ACM Audio Codec
• DSP-worx MOD Source Filter 0.60
• DSP-worx MP3 Source Filter 1.30
• Lame MP3 3.97.B2 ACM Codec
• Fraunhofer IIS MP3 1.2.0.63 Professional + 1.9.0.305 Advanced ACM Codec
• Fraunhofer IIS DirectShow filter 1.9.0.311
• Fraunhofer IIS DirectShow filter 1.5.0.50
• Lame 3.97.B2 DirectShow filter

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XviD Media Codec includes the open-source MPEG4 codec, which comes from the same open-source project that was the basis for DivX 4.x/5.x. The XviD codec will enable you to watch XviD movies. There's no XviD Player included, but with this codec installed on your machine, you can view XviD Movies with a media player, such as WMP or WinAmp.

Unlike many other Codec packs, the XviD Media Codec is completely free to use, it is released under the GNU General Public License, and is not advertisement supported. Also, its source code is available online for everyone. XviD Media Codec comes complete with both install and uninstall wizards for fast and easy installation.

Download XviD Codec 1.1.3 in Softonic

SheerVideo is a family of revolutionary ultrafast and powerful nondestructive software video codecs that save both time and space in professional video and film production and archival, yet always maintain absolutely perfect fidelity. With SheerVideo, there is no compromise between speed, power, and quality. SheerVideo lets you have it all. SheerVideo now incorporates Synchromy technology to convert between RGB (film and CGI) and Y'CbCr (video) color spaces with unprecedented accuracy.

Download Sheervideo 2.6.5.2 in Softonic

K-Lite Codec Pack is a collection of codecs, DirectShow filters and tools. Codecs and DirectShow filters are needed for encoding and decoding (playing) audio and video formats. The K-Lite Codec Pack is designed as a user-friendly solution for playing all your movie files. With the K-Lite Codec Pack you should be able to play all the popular audio and video formats and even some rare formats.

The K-Lite Codec Pack has a couple of major advantages compared to other codec packs. According to the developers it is always very up-to-date with the newest (and/or best) versions of the components and tries to avoid potential problems with existing codecs and even fixes some problems. The pack is suitable for both novice and expert users.

Download K-Lite Codec Pack Update 2.88 06/14/07 in Softonic

K-Lite Codec Pack is a collection of codecs and related tools. Codec is short for Compressor-Decompressor. Codecs are needed for encoding and decoding (playing) audio and video. The K-Lite Codec Pack is designed as a user-friendly solution for playing all your movie files. With the K-Lite Codec Pack you should be able to play all the popular movie formats and even some rare formats.

The K-Lite Codec Pack has a couple of major advantages compared to other codec packs:

• It it always very up-to-date with the latest versions of the codecs
• It is very user-friendly and the installation is fully customizable
• It's easy to make an unattended installation
• It has been very well tested, so that the package doesn't contain any conflicting codecs
• It is a very complete package, containing everything you need to play your movies
• There are different packages. From small to extra-large

There are three versions of the K-Lite Codec Pack:

Basic contains only the most essential things. It contains everything you need to be able to play the two most popular and widespread formats, DivX and XviD. It is small enough to fit on a single floppy. Also great for including on your movie cds.

Standard contains everything you need to play all the most commonly used formats. This package should be enough for the average user.

Full contains even more codecs. It also has encoding support for various formats. This package is for power users and people who do their own encodings.

Download K-Lite Codec Pack Basic 3.20 in Softonic

The Codecs is the most complete, powerful and reliable compilation package of various audio and video codecs. It contains the best and newest codecs that are needed for playing most movies (Divx, VCD, SVCD etc.).

Download The Codecs 5.0 in Softonic

Satsuki Decoder Pack is an audio/video pack of auto-installable filters and decoders for Windows. The purpose of this pack is to decode the majority of video files out there.

This pack contains only filters and decoders (with some exeptions) and the developers claim it will not conflict with your currently installed packages.

This pack is free with no spyware or adware.

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If you're a fan of K-Lite codec packs, you're definitely going to like this one: a codec suite especially designed for MPEG conversion issues, both audio and video.

K-Lite MPEG Pack combines a series of codecs MPEG-1/2 and also audio MPEG, choosing the best options available like Cyberlink, DScaler5, Ligos or Intervideo. Plus it also includes filters and splitters.

Filters will enable you to enhance the material's quality before proceeding to convert it, and splitters will take care of longer MPEG files to make them fit into multiple disks.

Download K-Lite MPEG Pack 1.0.1 in Softonic

Windows Essentials Codec Pack is a collection of video and audio codecs and tools that are required to encode and decode (that is, play) audio and video files. With this pack, according to the developer, you should be able to play 99% of all the movies and music files that you download off the Internet, and stay up to date with the latest codecs through the program's Codec Update Service.

Windows Essentials Codec Pack is free and user-friendly, as you get all the work done with just a couple of clicks. Also, it keeps your computer up to date with the latest codecs and it's 100% spamware / adware / spyware / free.

But more importantly, unlike other codec packs which include several filters and decoders that are capable of decoding the same media format (which usually cause many conflicts and errors) Windows Essentials Codec Pack was especially designed to assign each file type to the most appropriate filter or decoder, which not only reduces the installer size but also eliminates many of the conflicts and errors caused by multiple codecs being used to decode the same file type.

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X Codec Pack is not just another codec pack. Only the most used and popular codecs are included in this comprehensive pack. If you are looking for a big pack with lots of codecs, filters, tools, this is the wrong place. Lots of codecs can mess up Windows.

Unlike other codec packs, you can select the components you want to install, you get uninstall support, detection for previous installed versions, update for new versions - you don’t have to download the whole pack again, support for unattended installs.

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Codecs have always been a tricky thing to get right but this package takes from the best, all the big name creators and several small ones too. All possible conflicts have already been dealt with.

Note this program does not contain a media player and it does not associates filetypes. With this package installed you will be able to use any media player (limited by the players capabilities) to play DVD's, movies and video clips such as quicktime, realmedia, avi, mpeg, Flv, swf, wmv, etc.

Streaming video is supported in most web browsers. By default you shouldn't need to make any adjustments to enjoy your media content immediately.

Download Vista Codecs x64 Components package 1.1.2 in Softonic