MKV Codec Windows 10/Mac Download Free

What is MKV Codec?

Like MP4 codec, MKV is a container format that can contain various video and audio codecs for media playback, so the codec that can be used to encode and decode MKV file can be classified into MKV codec. MKV codecs are variable including common H.264 (AVC ; MPEG 4 Part 10), DivX Video, XviD Video, AAC Audio, Ogg Vorbis audio, Multichannel ( 5.1 surround ) audio, Dolby AC3 audio, MP3 audio, MPEG4V1/2/3 video, and rare Realvideo, Realaudio, RV 9, RV 10 and ON2 (VP4, VP5, VP6).

Therefore, if your media player doesn't include the specific MKV codec like H.264, it will fail to decode the MKV files. MKV codec pack is the key factor to decode MKV files, that's why we need to download MKV codec pack for Windows 10 or Mac when MKV not playing error happens.

Which Media Player Needs to Download MKV Codec Pack?

1. QuickTime Player: Often the case, you will get an error message "Error-2048: the file is not a movie file" or something like that when trying to play MKV with QuickTime player, as QuickTime does not natively support MKV files. To make MKV videos playable in QuickTime, you may need to download MKV codec pack Mac for QuickTime.

2. Windows Media Player: Though Windows 10 has claimed to support MKV codec, we still can't play MKV in Windows Media Player as WMP is not a real MKV video player. WMV (Windows Media Video) is actually the native video format that WMP supports and Microsoft like to promote to turn against other non-Windows media formats like MKV. So, MKV codec download for Windows Media Player is needed.

3. VLC Media Player: Though VLC media player is very popular, it is not almighty. As VLC only supports MPEG-2, MPEG-4, MPEG-4 ASP, H.264, DivX 4/5/6, XviD, SV1, 3ivX D4 and H.264/MPEG-4 AVC codecs as of now, you need external MKV codec pack to strengthen it and help solve VLC can't play MKV problem.

Besides the top three media players for Mac or Windows 10, other third-party media players like KMPlayer may also lack MKV codecs to decode MKV files. If your media player is encountering such a problem, you are highly suggested to download MKV codecs.

Where & How to Download MKV Codec?

1. Matroska Pack Full: https://www.matroska.org/downloads/windows.html

Matroska Pack Full is a set of audio and video codecs used to facilitate the playback of MKV files on Windows PC. Besides, you can also find other components to help beef up the media player besides the MKV codec pack for Windows Media Player. If interested, here also provides a MKV codec identifier called matroskadiag.exe (https://www.matroska.org/files/MatroskaDiag.exe) to help check your MKV file and make sure which MKV codec is missing.

2. Media Player Codec Pack: https://www.mediaplayercodecpack.com/

This MKV codec pack is specifically designed for Microsoft Windows Media Player 12, 11 & 10 and any other media players like VLC which are compatible with DirectShow. Besides MKV codec, this codec site also allows you to install major multimedia codecs, filters, plug-ins and splitters for media players on Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Vista, XP, 2000, 2008 & 2003. Including x264, x265, AVC and Xvid, this codec pack supports almost every compression and file type used by modern video and audio files.

3. CCCP (Combined Community Codec Pack): http://www.cccp-project.net/

CCCP is a collected archive of codecs packed for Windows XP/Vista/7/8/10 to help media player play most common media files and formats like MKV. By installing it, your video player is able to play MKV encoded with H.264, DivX, XviD, AAC, etc much more easily. However, to avoid the major problem caused by conflicting codec packs, you'd better uninstall all the codec packs on your computer and then install the CCCP MKV codec pack.

4. K-Lite Codec Pack: https://www.codecguide.com/download_kl.htm

The K-Lite Codec Pack is also only compatible with Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 & 10. Based on your different requirements, K-Lite offers you four types of codec pack ranging from a very small bundle that contains only the most essential decoders to a large and more comprehensive bundle. Here, you could only download the basic one which contains codecs for playback of MKV, MP4, AVI, FLV, MOV, etc. Like other MKV codec packs, K-Lite codec pack also includes 32-bit and 64-bit codecs that will work great on both x86 and x64 variants of Windows.

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