What Type of Files Does Windows Media Player Support?

By Timothy Tibbetts

Windows Media Player, as of version 12 for Windows 10, has become a more versatile media player that can play most, but not all formats. Here is a list of all the music and movie formats supported by Windows Media Player.

You must have version 12.x installed. Windows Media Player auto-updates, so you should be up to date automatically. To confirm you have version 12.x go to Start, Windows Media Player and press the ALT+H keys and click on About Windows Media Player.

Here is a list of supported file types put together by The Windows Club:

Audio for Windows (.wav)

Audio Interchange File Format (.aif, .aifc, .aiff)

Audio Visual Interleave (.avi)

CD Audio Track (.cda)

Free Lossless Audio Codec (.flac)

Indeo Video Technology (.ivf)

Microsoft Digital Video Recording (.dvr-ms)

Moving Pictures Experts Group (.mpg, .mpeg, .m1v, .mp2, .mp3, .mpa, .mpe, .m3u)

MP4 Audio file (.m4a)

MP4 Video file (.mp4, .m4v, .mp4v, .3g2, .3gp2, .3gp, .3gpp)

MPEG-2 TS Video file (.m2ts)

Musical Instrument Digital Interface (.mid, .midi, .rmi)

QuickTime Movie file (.mov)

Sun Microsystems and NeXT (.au, .snd)

Windows audio file (.aac, .adt, .adts)

Windows Media Download Package (.wmd)

Windows Media formats (.asf, .wma, .wmv, .wm)

Windows Media Metafiles (.asx, .wax, .wvx, .wmx, wpl)

Windows Media Player Skins (.wmz, .wms)

As you can see while Windows Media Player supports most format, you may run into some file types you can't play including FLAC, FLV or Blu-Ray. In this situation, our go-to media player is VLC Media Player available as an installer or portable app.