Your Computer won’t play videos when the installed Media Player does not support the Video Format.

After opening the video, you might either get a black screen or sometimes an error message like“Can’t Play.”

So, the first thing you may do is restart your PC. Then,try using other Media playersto play videos.

But, if the issue persists, these reasons could be responsible for the video not playing on your PC.

Regardless of the causes, you may solve this problem with the fixes below.

Open Video With Another Media Player

If you’re unable to play the downloaded video, it’s mostly due to compatibility issues.

When your device’s Media Player does not have the required codec to support the video format, you’ll get an error message: “We can’t play the video for XYZ. It’s encoded in …. format which isn’t supported.”During this situation, you might be able to listen only to the audio, but with a black screen.

The Media Player suggests youbuy Codecsto stream the video. you may download the missing codecs online for your current Media Player.

Or, as a workaround, you may open the video with another media player that supports the video format.

For me, I was able to play the Video in the VLC media player. However, you could open it with other existing Video Players on your device. Right-select yourVideoand chooseOpen with>VLC Media player.

In case your device does not have other media players, install them first and open the videos.

Check if the Video is Corrupted

Your computer won’t play video when it detects that the video is corrupted or unreadable. To check this, try playing other existing videos on your PC.

If it plays, then the video you intend to play is corrupted. The video might have been corrupted during the download ortransfer process.

During such a situation, the first thing you should do isre-download the video and play it again. But if the issue persists, you might have to fix a broken or corrupted video to open it.

Run Video Playback Troubleshooter

Next, you may run a Video Playback troubleshooter from Settings.Windows Troubleshooterwill identify the error that’s causing the video-playing issues.

For Instance,in my case,4K videos were not playing on my PC because my systemdoes not support HWDRM (Hardware Digital Rights Management)and lacks theHEVC Codec.

After you see the problems in the troubleshooter, adjust the Settings as recommended. Then, you should be able to play the video.

Compress Video

The video size you’re trying to open might be too large for the Media Player to support.

In that case, you may look for the video file extensions and size from the Properties menu. Right-select theVideoand chooseProperties. Stay on the General tab. Then, see theType of fileandSizemenu.

Some video file formats like.AVIare less compressed compared to the other formats.

If needed, you cancompress the videoand decrease the file size. But, note that while compressing video, the video quality may degrade.

Update/Reinstall Your Video Player

When your Media Player is not up to date, existing software glitches and bugs could be causing issues while playing the video. So, ensure youupdate the Video Player.

But, on the condition that the software is up to date, opt for thereinstall. Delete the Video Player from your PC and install it again.

Update/Reinstall Graphics Driver

An outdated Graphics Driver might be another reason your video is not playing. Generally, your drivers are automatically updated with the Windows update.

However, if you haven’t installed the latest software update on your device, you may manuallyupdate the Graphic Driversfrom your graphics driver’s official page or download center.

To perform this, you need to gatherall information about the Graphics Cardfirst.

Updating it should help troubleshoot video-related issues as well as enhance graphics performance.

Here’s our detailed guide on uninstalling theNVIDIAandAMDdrivers.

Update PC/Uninstall Update

It is possible that the system malware and software issues on your PC are causing video-playing errors. Windows regularly releases new security updates with enhancements and fixes. So,updating Windowscan troubleshoot the problem.

To update your PC, go toSettings>Windows Update. Click onCheck for Updates.

But, with that said, if you started experiencing videos not playing immediately after updating the Windows,uninstall the updateto revert back your update to the previous version.

To delete the update, navigate toSettingsand click onWindows Update. Head toUpdate history. Scroll down and click onUninstall updates. Choose theUpdatefrom the lists and clickUninstall.

Computer Won’t Play Videos on Web Browsers?

For users who can’t play online videos on web browsers like Chrome, Edge, Firefox, etc, try these troubleshooting steps.