So-called codec packs such as K-Lite, HelDecPack, XP Pack, Vista Pack, Nimo or Tsunami promise much. With just one installation, a great number of audio and video codecs are installed, so that you are able to play all media files on your computer without worrying about something else. A clear and decisive advantage of the pack, of course, is that not every codec must be downloaded separately and installed and you get all popular codecs together. But can these promises be kept or should you be careful?

Numerous problems

Most users who install a codec pack, do not know what happens during such an installation. But lots of codecs change a lot in your system and your registry! Just when you attempt to install multiple codec packs simultaneously or you install everything you can find, it may happen that some of the codecs are not compatible, and afterwards nothing works on your computer. Sometimes, the codecs in a codec pack are not up to date and so you can overwrite new codecs with old ones. So it can happen, that after the installation, less videos are running than before. In addition, with codec packs you are often installing lots of codecs, you will never use in your life again. This creates lots of waste on your hard drive and slows down your whole computer.

And what happens if you want to undo everything after there are some problems? If you want to uninstall the codec pack? Overwritten and old codecs that were previously installed, can not be restored. Instead, all codecs are deleted, which has been installed with the codec pack. After this, perhabs you can not play any media file on your computer!

Alternatives

What should you do instead? Finally, you want to view your video and listen to your audio files. At first glance multimedia players are a good idea, in which the codecs are already integrated. A good example is the VLC media player, the MPlayer or the Media Player Classic. These players are supporting a lot of audio and video formats automatically, so that there is no question about the codecs. So, first of all, you should better try whether you can use one of the programs to play your file, rather than installing any wild codecs.

What if you really need a codec?

If none of that works and you want to play the file, you will not get around to look for the codec for the file and install it. But now, caution is advised. You should know exactly what you are doing to not to destroy anything. The worst thing you can do is to install multiple codec packy simultaneously without knowing anything about the codecs.

• If you install a codec pack, you should manually set that only the codecs are installed, that you really need. Here you must also pay attention to the version number of the codec, so that you do not overwrite a newer codec with an older one.
• If you want to install a codec or renew a codec, you should uninstall the old codec and make sure to completely remove the codec from your system. Because sometimes different versions of the same codecs have a different structure, it can happen, that codecs are not overwritten and appear twice. Again it came to playback problems that are hard to overcome
• Do not choose double or incompatible codecs. Sometimes codec packs contain outdated codecs, here you should always prefer the newer version. Sometimes shareware codecs are included, that are overwriting free codecs you have already installed. Other codecs are only written for specific hardware, specific programs or a specific file type you will never use.
• Of course, you should set a system restore point to be able to undo the installation. As already mentioned, the manual installation is usually difficult or impossible.

Determine codec of a file 

If you have a file that can not be played, you should first determine the codec of the file instead of installing all packs you can get. It is easy to get the codec information of a file with some software tools. You can read it in our tutorial "How to get the codec from a video file".

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