How to easily play divx, rm, mkv, vob files directly in Windows Media Player?

Many of you might have got movies from friends or family members in formats like .divx or the latest .mkv format and your Windows Media Player might have simply refused to play such a file - what do you do? Very simple, Windows Media player uses something called as a codec to convert a file from a given format (like .avi or .divx or .vob) to the native display format that is shown on screen.

All you need to do is download the best FREE codec pack that is available online - called the K-Lite Codec Pack and install it on your system. This installation is very small and free from any virus or trojans - so it's safe too. The beauty of this installation is that you can now play these files with extension .divx, .rm, .mkv, .vob, etc directly inside your Windows Media Player. This very safely eliminates the need to install any other player software.

Mostly folks install the Real Player to play .rm, .ram or .rmvb files - but with the above installation you don't have to have 2 players on your system. Also, .divx files are usually played on DIVX Player - but even that is eliminated.

I have also tested playing the iPod file types like .mp4 and .3gp files directly in Windows Media Player after installing the codec Pack.

Some of the formats that the codec pack supports for direct play from within Windows Media Player are:

DirectShow video decoding filters:
- XviD
- DivX
- On2 VP6
- On2 VP7
- MPEG-2 (Cyberlink)
- MPEG-2 (Gabest)

DirectShow audio decoding filters:
- AC3/DTS/LPCM (AC3Filter)
- Vorbis (CoreVorbis)
- AAC (MONOGRAM)

DirectShow audio parsers:
- FLAC (madFLAC)
- WavPack (CoreWavPack)
- MusePack (MONOGRAM)
- Monkey's Audio
- OptimFROG (RadLight)
- AMR (MONOGRAM)
- DC-Bass Source
- AC3/DTS Source (AC3File)

DirectShow source filters:
- AVI splitter (Gabest)
- AVI splitter (Haali Media Splitter)
- MP4 splitter (Haali Media Splitter)
- MP4 splitter (Gabest)
- Matroska splitter (Haali Media Splitter)
- Matroska splitter (Gabest)
- Ogg splitter (Haali Media Splitter)
- Ogg splitter (Gabest)
- MPEG PS/TS splitter (Gabest)
- MPEG PS/TS splitter (Haali Media Splitter)
- FLV splitter (Gabest)
- CDXA Reader (Gabest)

VFW video codecs:
- XviD
- DivX
- x264
- On2 VP6
- On2 VP7
- Intel Indeo 4
- Intel Indeo 5
- Intel I.263
- huffyuv
- YV12 (Helix)

ACM audio codecs:
- MP3 (Fraunhofer)
- MP3 (LAME)
- AC3ACM
- Vorbis
- DivX Audio

Real Alternative:
- RealMedia codecs
- RealMedia plugin for Internet Explorer
- RealMedia plugin for Firefox/Mozilla/Netscape/Opera/Chrome
- RealMedia DirectShow splitter