Written by In addition to being a media player, Windows Media Player includes the ability to rip music from and copy music to compact discs, burn recordable discs in Audio CD format or as data discs with playlists such as an MP3 CD, synchronize content with a digital audio player (MP3 player) or other mobile devices, and enable users to purchase or rent music from a number of online music stores. But some users still have some issues playing videos on Windows Media Player. Ok, today we talk about Windows Media Player(12/11) supported formats for your smooth playing. 
According to Microsoft® Knowledge Base Article 316992, Windows Media Player supports the following formats “out of the box”: 
Common Issues: unsupported formats playback with Windows Media Player
Microsoft® does not bundle some other formats and codecs like MPEG-2, MPEG-4, MKV, MP4, H.265 etc with Windows Media Player. To play these unsupported video files with a non-Microsoft codec in Windows Media Player, you’d better to convert videos to Windows Media Player compatible WMV, ASF, AVI etc.
Best video tool for playing in Windows Media Player perfectly
Here, I strongly recommend a professional yet easy-to-handle Pavtube Video Converter which has the feature of easily converting any unsupported video files like MP4, MKV, MOV, H.265, MTS, M2TS, MXF, XAVC etc to Windows Media Player recognized formats like WMV, AVI etc with zero quality loss. (Mac version – Pavtube Video Converter for Mac)
Key features of Pavtube Video Converter:
✔Convert all video/audio 300+ formats to Windows Media Player friendly format
✔Convert video to WMM, PSP/PS3/PS4, mobile phones, Android, iPad, iPhone, Apple TV, QuickTime, NLE and other popular end devices.
✔Basic video editing functions: split, merge, trim, crop, add watermark, adjust video effect, edit audio and insert subtitles.
✔Batch conversion and super fast conversion speed
✔Easy-to-use Windows Media Player Video Converter with simple clear interface.
Free download the video converter for Windows Media Player
Step 1. Add video files
Run the best video to Windows Media Player Converter; click the “Add video” button to import the video to it. This ideal app also supports drag and drop function. 
Step 2. Choose a Windows Media Player supported format
Click the “Format” drop-down button to select WMP supported WMV, AVI, ASF etc as output profile from “Common Video” or “HD Video” Category. 
Tip- Video/Audio Settings: You can also click “Settings” icon to and enter “Profile Settings” panel to adjust video size, bit rate, frame rate, sample rate and audio channels. 
Step 3. Start video to Windows Media Player conversion
Hit the “Convert” button at the bottom right corner to start and finish encoding/re-encoding video to Windows Media Player more supported format WMV, AVI, ASF. After the conversion, click the Open button to get the resulted video. Now, you can successfully load and play any videos in Windows Media Player (11/12) without any issue.
Conclusion
For casual Windows Media Player users, this tutorial is likely not even necessary. Windows Media Player 11/12 supports a vast number of video and audio types without the need for any third-party program. But in the off chance you do find a video format that isn’t supported by Windows Media Player 12, Pavtube Video Converter is almost guaranteed to provide a solution. Enjoy your videos! And don’t forget to check out some of our related articles:
Read More:
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Play/View DVD ISO files with Windows Media Player
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