Still, better to know what’s happening, so right-click on one of the MKV files you’re trying to view, then choose it from the “Open With” options: The solution here is to install VLC, a terrific open-source (e.g., free, no in-app purchases, no ads, nada) video player that works on Windows, Mac, Linux, even AppleTV and Android phones! You can download it from their Web site but a better strategy is to launch the Microsoft Store and search for “VLC”:Ī click on the “ Install” button and it’ll not only be installed on your Windows PC, but as part of being registered with the OS, it’ll actually take over ownership of the MKV files as you would hope. Now what? HOW TO INSTALL AND USE VLC VIDEO PLAYER In the interest of getting to the show, I’ll choose “ Recommended settings“, but once it installs, well, there’s no actual error message, but it’s clear that WMP can’t understand the video file: They’re even identified as “MKV Video File” by Windows 11, suggesting that they’re ready to view, right?Ī double click, however, and I find out that I haven’t previously launched Windows Media Player on this Win11 PC:

There’s no obvious way to know that without trying, so I opened up the folder she sent me… Windows Media Player Still Can’t Play MKV FilesĪ friend has been really eager for me to watch some of the new animated series Star Trek Legacy, so she finally took the step of sending me the first half-dozen episodes. Fortunately, there’s a terrific open-source video player you can grab from the Microsoft Store – VLC – that solves all your problems. The problem is that Windows Media Player is not intended to be a digital Swiss Army Knife, so it has a very limited range of image files it can manage, and, as you’ve learned, MKV isn’t one of them. A media file that contains other files? It actually makes sense. The acronym MKV stands for “Matroska Video Stream” and the name “Matroska” comes from the Russian word for “nesting doll”.

Let’s start with a definition, however, because MKV is a particularly interesting file format because it’s a “container” that lets users pack up multiple media files into a single file for convenience. There are dozens of different video formats so it’s not a complete surprise that you have encountered one that can’t be played by default on your Windows PC.

Can windows media player mkv