Help, I can't play a video on my computer ~ Freeware Catalogue

March 3, 2011

Help, I can't play a video on my computer

Tim

3 simple tips to solve this problem

Recently, I got a question from one reader.

Cannot view movies from Down Torrent site. Was told that I required a CoralPlayer--but that didn't work either. Nedd help.

She has a situation where she couldn't play a movie, which she just downloaded from a torrent website. When she tried to play it, it prompted her to download CoralPlayer to play it. But, after she downloaded it, it still didn't work. You might have experienced the same situation. You just finished to download a video or movie or music. And when you wanted to play them, they prompted you to download particular media player or codec. Take codecxi as an example. I have heard that some people have been prompted to download it.
So, what should we do when we have this situation? Why can't you play specific videos or audios? And how to solve this problem? Here, some possibilities about what happened:

1. You don't have the codec or media player that you need

Let's say, you really don't have what it needs to play the videos or audios. How can you be sure about that? Or how can you know about that? Well, you can use GSpot Codec Information. It's a free and trusted software to detect the codecs that are installed on your computer. You can also use it to check the videos or audios formats.

Let's say I have several videos. It seems that they are AVI videos. But, I don't sure about it and want to check it.

I open GSpot Codec Information. When it starts, it automatically detects how much codecs available on my computer.

GSpot

Then, I choose one of the videos and drag it into GSpot Codec Information.

You see, it said that the video is XVID video and the codecs are installed. In other words, I have the required codecs. I should be able to play it. I can choose the easy way, use this free software to open it with associated player (look on the picture) or just simply press CTRL + G.

Choose "Play (Using Associated Player) or press Ctrl + G"

If you don't have the required codecs, you can find the codecs on the Internet or simply download popular, free and trusted codec packs such as K-Lite.

2. The video files are broken.

Well, if you have known the type of codecs of your videos, and have the required player. But, you still can't play it, the other possibility is that the videos are corrupted or broken. The only thing that you can do is re-download the files. To detect and fix the broken codecs, read here.

3. The videos or audios are scams.

Yes, they are scams. Or in other words, they aren't the real multimedia files. They can be some malicious programs that will infect your computer. Or something that are used to bait you. The best thing that you can do is delete them. And try to get the real files from another trusted sources.