Suddenly unable to play mp4 videos on Windows 10

windows-10 windows-media-player mp4 windows-movie-maker

5,829

Installing a codec pack should fix this.

Try K-Lite Codec Pack Basic.

5,829

Author by

Sean2014

Updated on September 18, 2022

Comments

Sean2014 almost 2 years
My windows 10 laptop suddenly stopped properly playing mp4 video files.

The error message states that
```
Unable to play the file. 
It's possible that this item's file format is not supported, 
the file extension incorrect, or the file data may be broken. 
0xc00d36c4
```
My laptop is equipped with Windows Media Player, and even though I've been able to play video files without problem until yesterday, it suddenly stopped working.

On the other hand, there was no problem opening and playing wmv video files. I tried installing another media player and open some of the mp4 files and that worked. But when I tried to add those mp4 videos via my Windows Movie Maker it couldn't properly read the video files.

This is problematic because I want to edit videos with the movie maker, and I want to get it work again.

What would be the fix for this?

By the way, my Windows Movie Maker is not the latest version. I think I purchased it around September of 2017.
- Mr Ethernet almost 5 years
  
  If you right click on an mp4 file and click on Properties, what do you see as the default application for mp4 files? It should still say Windows Media Player.
- Sean2014 almost 5 years
  
  It says "MP4 video" and "Windows Media Player", but it's not working.
- Mr Ethernet almost 5 years
  
  I would install K-Lite Codec Pack Basic, to ensure Windows has codecs for all the main media formats: codecguide.com/download_k-lite_codec_pack_basic.htm It should work after that.
Sean2014 almost 5 years

Yeah, that wonderfully worked! Thanks a lot for the help :D
Mr Ethernet almost 5 years

Glad I could help!