How to Play DVDs on Windows for Free

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Many people don’t know this, but Windows XP does not come with free DVD playing software by default.  Whatever DVD software they have is usually bundled in to their package when they purchased their system.

Having recently reformatted my hard disk, and having suddenly lost my ability to play any DVDs on my system, VLC media player came into the picture.

Why VLC?

VLC is a cross-platform free software project which plays almost every video format known to man.  Not only does it solve my DVD playing problems, it seems that it can play halfway downloaded files as well – Perfect for previewing the legal movies you’re downloading from bittorrent :)

Question to Readers: What other Windows Media Player alternatives have you tried for videos?  Tell us in the comments!

 

[tags]vlc, dvd, videos[/tags]

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29 Comments For This Post

  1. Jasmine Says:
    April 16th, 2007 at 12:28 am

    I can play DVD discs with my Windows XP media player… Perhaps you just need to download some codecs.

  2. James Yeang Says:
    April 16th, 2007 at 12:50 am

    The codecs unfortunately need to be purchased. Yours probably came bundled in with your system when you purchased it. Read the link below more more details.

    http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/expert/bridgman02april15.mspx

    …Hence my recommendation for VLC.

  3. CypherHackz Says:
    April 16th, 2007 at 1:21 am

    maybe. but some widnows media player can’t play certain videos and dvds and you still need to download the codec.

  4. LcF Says:
    April 16th, 2007 at 1:25 am

    ya, VLC is great even on Mac (which has less codec support)

  5. James Yeang Says:
    April 16th, 2007 at 2:20 am

    CypherHackz: Yep true. That’s why VLC is in many ways superior than WMP

    LcF: Agree… Don’t you love these cross-platform innovations? :)

  6. didi Says:
    April 16th, 2007 at 6:21 pm

    The powerful feature of this VLC is that it can play those video file which not completely downloaded

    But it also got disadvantage where it did not support RM/RMVB format…

  7. Kylde Says:
    April 16th, 2007 at 10:45 pm

    Media Player Classic, far smoother interface than VLC for dvd-bookmarking etc

  8. Samvith Says:
    April 16th, 2007 at 11:53 pm

    MPLAYER is the best…u can get it from their official website for free…apart from supporting several video formats it is also open-source and u can customize it to u’r own requirements… :)

  9. James Yeang Says:
    April 17th, 2007 at 5:46 am

    Thanks for the tips Kylde and Samvith, will check out your suggestions!

  10. Syams Riz Says:
    April 17th, 2007 at 9:24 am

    Media Player Classic & K-Lite codecs (others too).. U can play almost all downloaded videos & audios from internet. Of course it is free!

  11. greenpeace Says:
    April 19th, 2007 at 10:12 pm

    i’ve used win media classic and vlc player too. but i use WMC+ K-Lite codecs more and if even WMC couldn’t play it, i’ll use VLC.

  12. Sahko Says:
    April 19th, 2007 at 11:20 pm

    Anyone know how VLC treats various region dvds? Can I use it to watch a region 2 for instance? If not, suggest others?

  13. James Yeang Says:
    April 20th, 2007 at 7:21 am

    Syams and greenpeace – thanks for the tip!

    Sahko – Based on http://sol4.net/dvd1.shtml it seems like it can. I don’t have multiple region DVDs to test this, but it seems to work fine for others!

  14. Tim Says:
    May 7th, 2007 at 6:22 am

    I think VLC is really good, but it’s so ugly. And the way it changes all your desktop video files to a big ugly pilon….. guh. Otherwise, great program.

  15. James Yeang Says:
    May 7th, 2007 at 7:30 am

    Yeah Tim: Ugly but functional :)

  16. Antonini Says:
    May 11th, 2007 at 8:03 pm

    Hi there! I’m a freeware fanatic, and I know XP sucks. VLC is indeed great (plays almost anything) but it is plain. There is a free DVD player called AVS Player. Here: http://www.avsmedia.com/DVDPlayer/index.aspx Enjoy!!

  17. James Yeang Says:
    May 11th, 2007 at 11:14 pm

    Thanks Antonini – that’s a great piece of software!

  18. _ Says:
    May 18th, 2007 at 5:13 am

    I recommend
    • the MPlayer GUIs MPUI, rulesPlayer, SMPlayer
    • KMPlayer [currently my favourite]
    • with ffdshow: Media Player Classic or Zoom Player
    .

  19. Budi Widjaja Says:
    May 31st, 2007 at 6:03 pm

    Keep your WMP, add DVD Xpack (get it from Rapidshare.com) and K-lite Codec, you will watch DVD with Window Media Player without added New Player. VLC very primitive on playback, no forward/backward,skip etc.

  20. Budi Widjaja Says:
    May 31st, 2007 at 6:05 pm

    K-lite Codec is free too

  21. James Yeang Says:
    June 4th, 2007 at 2:50 am

    Thanks _ and Budi :Top class tips indeed!

  22. D33P.PHR13D.B1GM4C Says:
    September 24th, 2007 at 12:19 pm

    A lot of files can be converted just by changing the extension … .rmvb can easily become .avi… only a few types like .gvi and .flv cause issues … and all can be converted My Roxio/Media Center wont burn many other formats than win so i dont mind WMP but VLC is good on my older laptop which has a sh1t for nothing vidcard…

  23. adeathome31 Says:
    February 8th, 2008 at 12:29 am

    dont buy roxio decoder im going nuts trying to unlock it.ive tried every way and customer care is crap its a merry go round wish i hadnt bought it.

  24. myCDoutlet Says:
    March 10th, 2008 at 3:36 am

    VLC viewer is great. You don’t have to buy codecs, just do a google search on them. Go to http://www.mycdoutlet.com

  25. Jan Says:
    April 2nd, 2008 at 8:17 pm

    Vlc is the best!
    Install windows, download & install vlc for free and you’re good to go – Vlc can play lots of file types without any additional codec packs. Great subs and voice handling, it has like a built-in amplifier and lots of other handy features. The looks hasn’t changed, it simple no extra buttons and shiny stuff, just keep it simple and stay the best. Good job and thanks!

  26. shyam kumar Says:
    July 15th, 2008 at 2:10 am

    I can play DVD discs with my Windows XP LAPTOP media player….

  27. peter c Says:
    December 9th, 2008 at 10:58 pm

    you can play dvd in wmp and realplayer but there is no sound

    I found this can be fixed by downloading and installing a free program called

    XP_Codec_Pack_243.exe

    worked for me anyway after i had to remove the program I was using as it was outdated and a security risk.
    I also found vlc player which is free and works too.

  28. Arun Kumar Singh Says:
    October 13th, 2009 at 1:53 pm

    VLC is very fast to work smoothly.

  29. Morgan Says:
    January 8th, 2010 at 7:30 pm

    After downloading VLC and trying to play a dvd the images were all pixelated and freezing. Am now attempting to find other free software to download – any help muchly appreciated. many thanks

2 Trackbacks For This Post

  1. How to Play DVDs on Windows for Free — ElectronicEquipment Review Says:
    August 29th, 2007 at 7:14 pm

    [...] DVD software they have is usually bundled in to their package when they purchased source: How to Play DVDs on Windows for Free, Friedbeefs [...]

  2. | dvdforfree.info Says:
    September 20th, 2007 at 5:09 pm

    [...] How to Play DVDs on Windows for Free … come with free DVD playing software by default.  Whatever DVD software they … There is a free DVD player called AVS Player. … [...]

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