I always enjoy watch clips and videos in Windows Media Player than any other player this very reason I always look for a codec pack suitable for my need. As you know Windows 8 does not natively supports MKV, so when the Windows 8 RP came out, I been searching for Codec Packs that works well with Windows 8.

VideoLAN, VLC, VLC media player and x264 are trademarks internationally registered by the VideoLAN non-profit organization. VideoLAN software is licensed under various open-source licenses: use and distribution are defined by each software license. Design by Made By Argon. Some icons are licensed under the CC BY-SA 3.0+. This page shows the full information about MKV codec for Windows Media Player. Windows Media Player does not support MKV playback, and you have to download and install the MKV codec for smooth playback, but it is risky to download the MKV codec for using on Windows Media Player. Download Media Player Codec Pack. The Media Player Codec Pack supports almost every compression and file type used by modern video and audio files.

So far I found two of them that meets my requirement and work just fine on Windows 8. I used to play MKV format quiet often and I especially I download the 1080p trailers that often come in MKV format.

Codec Packs for Windows 8

Here are the two codec packs which worked well on my Windows 8.

Shark007 Codec Pack

One of the popular codec pack from Windows 7 days is “Shark007”. Lucky they have released codecs for Windows 8 as well. The main feature of Shark007 is that MKV playback is fully supported including thumb nailing.

Main features include:

1. Full color thumbnails including FLV’s and 10bit MKV’s
2. Enable the Preview Pane for ALL newly enabled file types such as MKV and FLV.
3. Explorer properties are displayed for non native file types such as MKV and FLV
4. Updated often – and has update notification built-in
5. Allow use of the PDVD12 decoders for 32bit LiveTV
6. Supports the use of Xbox360 as Extenders to playback MKV files
7. Allows single-click setup of Bitstreamed Audio
8. Support playback of MOD audio files and M4A files containing ALAC
9. Supports playlist creation for use in Media Center
10. Allow users to Enable/Disable codecs installed on their system
11. Functionality such as Win7DSFilterTweaker built-in.
12. Support ‘Add to Windows Media Player List’ using right click on all files such as MKV.

Go here for download & setup instructions.

BONUS TIP: Use CodecInstaller to identify and install missing Codecs in minutes.

DivX Codec Pack

Shark007 codec pack meets most of the requirementbut I am very curious to test other packs that support MKV format and stumbled upon the DivX Media pack HD. I found MKV quality much better with DivX codec pack though this does not support all the formats that Shark007 does the MKV quality is truly greatand this comes with DivX Media player.

DivX pack also contains codec packs for browsers that enables you video streaming through browsers as well. It also support stream MKV files to your Xbox and PlayStation.

Visit divx.com to download it.

Windows 8 Media Player Mkv Codec Download Windows

Windows 7 users may want to check out these 3 popular free Media Codec Packs.

Bonus Tip: The Codec Tweak Tool can help you manage, detect and remove broken Codecs and Filters.

Windows 8 Media Player Play Dvd

Windows 8 Media Player Help

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