MP4 Windows Media Player - How to Convert MP4 to Windows Media Player Formats?

The Best Way to Convert MP4 to Windows Media Player to Solve "Windows Media Won't Play MP4"

Jul 4, 2014, Updated by Andrew Smith

Can Windows Media Player Play MP4?

These are the questions people always ask when they play MP4 file in Windows Media Player: "Can Windows Media Player play MP4 files"? "Why my Windows Media Player won't play MP4 files"? "What should I do in order to open and play MP4 files in Windows Media Player"?

From Microsoft support website we know that MP4 files are still not supported playing in Windows Media Player. So far, WMP is only compatible with WMV, AVI ASF, MPG video formats and WMA, MP3, WAV, AU, AIFF audio formats.

How to Solve "Windows Media Player Won't Play MP4" Issue?

To make WMP support MP4 format, you should install filters for MP4 format and its associated codecs. After you install these filters, all players that use DirectShow technology, include WMP, will support MP4 format. There are a bunch of third party codec packs on the internet that support not only MP4 format, but also many other common formats. Just Google "codec pack", you will find K-Like and CCCP are the most famous of them.

What if you cannot install codec pack? For example, you will play MP4 on other people's computer and you are not authorized to install any program? On this situation, converting your MP4 to WMP natively supported WMV or AVI format is the best choice.

How to Convert MP4 to Windows Media Player Compatible Formats?

Serving as a high-class MP4 to Windows Media Player Converter, Faasoft MP4 to Windows Media Player Converter can batch convert MP4 to Windows Media Player recognizable formats like WMV, AVI, ASF, etc to solve "Windows Media Player won't play MP4 files". Furthermore, Faasoft MP4 to Windows Media Player Converter does support converting nearly all video formats like MOV, WTV, MKV, FLV, 3GP, WebM, MXF , RMVB, etc to WMP compatible formats to play MOV, WTV, MKV, FLV, 3GP, etc in Windows Media Player.

Even more amazing, Faasoft MP4 to Windows Media Player Converter has the feature of converting almost all video formats to Windows Media Player supported audio formats like WMA, MP3, WAV, AU, and AIFF so that you can only enjoy audio in WMP if you don't like the image of the video.

Besides, Faasoft MP4 to Windows Media Player Converter is not only a video to WMP Converter but also an audio to WMP Converter. By using it, you can fast convert various kinds of audio formats like FLAC, APE, 3GA, M4A, VOC, M4R, OGG, DTS, RA, etc to Windows Media Player popular audio formats in order to play these audio in WMP.

Steps on How to Convert MP4 to Windows Media Player Formats

After launch this ideal MP4 to Windows Media Player Converter, then follow the step by step guide to convert MP4 to WMP formats.

Step 1 Add MP4 to the Program
Simply drag and drop the source MP4 file to the main interface of the program, then you'll see the file in the "Task List".

Step 2 Set WMV as the output format
Click "Profile" drop-down button to choose "WMV Windows Media Video (*.wmv)" from the "General Video" category as the output format.

Step 3 Start MP4 to WMP popular format conversion
When all done, click big "Convert" button to start and finish MP4 to WMP format conversion with high quality and fast speed.

Tips: Before conversion, click "Trim" button on the interface of the program to open "Video Edit" Window to edit MP4 file.

There you can trim, crop, adjust the brightness/contrast/ saturation of the image, and add text or picture watermark, effect and subtitle to the video, etc;

Click "Setting..." button on the interface, and a window will pop up. Please click "Advanced" to set the bitrate of the video and audio, adjust the volume and change the channel of the audio, etc.

Right click the selected files to "Merge Selected into One" from the context menu.

More about Windows Media Player and MP4

Windows Media Player (WMP), the built-in media player of Windows system, uses a technology called DirectShow to use any installed DirectShow filter, include splitter and codec(encoder and decoder), to split media file into video and audio stream, and decode them into video image and audio waveform respectively. Windows system only comes with some filter that support WMV, ASF, AVI, MPG, MP3, WAV, etc, and doesn't support MP4.

MP4(MPEG-4) file format and its associated audio and video codec, MPEG-4, H.264/AVC, AAC is issued by ISO MPEG organization. As universal standards, they have been widely accepted by most popular players. Why Windows doesn't support it? Because MP4, based on Apple's MOV format, is not a free format. Apple holds some patents on it. Maybe Microsoft won't pay money to Apple, so it doesn't support MP4 until today.