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One of the best features of Windows Media Player is that it can play almost normal file types that the user needs. However, some special formats are not supported, or some regular formats, such as MOV, may not work properly for some reasons. Read this article to learn how to solve the problem of Windows Media Player not being able to play .mov files, and how to solve the problem of playing MOVs in Windows Media Player.
What is a .mov file?
Videos and movies are often stored on your hard drive in .mov format. You can recognize it by the .mov extension following the file name. The format was created by Apple and is compatible with Windows and Mac – if you use Quicktime Player.
Quicktime Player is included with the MacOS (read our review of the Mac media player) and can be downloaded free of charge from Windows. Although .mov files can be run in Windows via Quicktime, they cannot be run in Windows Media Player (except Windows Media Player version 12).
In addition, Digital Rights Management (DRM) poses problems for video players that play copyrighted or pirated content.
Using QuickTime on Windows 10
Apple still has the QuickTime installation files on its support site. However, please note that support was discontinued in 2016. Apple is not responsible if you use it and have problems. Once installed, you should be able to play the MOV files just like any other video file on your computer.
If you wish to use QuickTime Player, we suggest you make sure you need it. It is preferable to use Windows Media Player or one of the third party applications, taking security issues into account.
Even if you install QuickTime, install the player alone. Skip the part where you can choose to install a plug-in, image viewer, etc.
Use VLC to Play MOV Files in Windows 10
A second option is to install the VLC player, a free media player that can play almost any video format. It can be downloaded and installed at https://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-windows.html.
To use the VLC player, right-click on the file you wish to read and select “Open with” and then “VLC Player” from the menu that appears. This will launch the file in the player.
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After this preliminary note, it should be noted that commercially produced DVDs usually contain two sets of files, one set that can be played on a computer and one set that can be played on a DVD player. However, this is not always the case with non-commercially produced DVDs, which tend to save only files for playback on a DVD player.
Changing the Default Video Player
If you want to use a third-party player as your default media player, you need to change it in the Windows 10 settings.
You can access the settings menu by right-clicking the Windows Start menu button on the taskbar and clicking the Settings button. From there, select Applications > Standard Applications.
On the Standard Applications menu, click the existing video player. If installed, the Cinema & TV application is probably the default application.
Select your third-party media player from the drop-down list. Once selected, Windows will open all detected video files with the third-party player you selected instead.
Conclusion
We hope you have used Windows Media Player and third party players to play the MOV files. Unless some other applications require QuickTime for Windows to be installed, we recommend that you leave it installed.
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