Fixed: Top five common video errors!

Read time 10 minutes

While we watch our favorite movie or web series in our Windows system, the instant feeling is always atrocious when an error or issue pops on the screen out of nowhere putting a stop to the entertainment.

You’ll probably try to close the video window and play it again from the point where it stopped. Well, this in some cases works but for most of the other video issues, it won’t work.

Video & playback issues are usually associated either with the program you’re using or with the audio-video configuration you’ve set. For every specific error, you’ve got to find a relevant fix without messing more.

Not all the users face or encounter the same video & playback errors, but some remain common because of the Windows ecosystem. So, we’ve come up with our compilation of top five common video & playback errors.

1. Cannot play the file

The error message “Windows Media Player cannot play the file. The Player might not support the file type or might not support the codec that was used to compress the file” pops on-screen when you try to play a video file with Windows Media Player that is not supported.

Windows media application is not as flexible as other paid and open source multimedia programs; Windows Media Player is not compatible with all the video formats. So, if you open something that is out of bounds of the application, it’ll throw you the same error message as above.

For getting rid of this annoying error message, there are two fixes you can choose from; one is to change the video file format to the one which is supported by Windows Media Player.

And the other is to download and use a more robust media player application, for example, VLC media player. VLC is a much powerful application than the Windows Media Player – it supports more video file formats and is available for free.

2. Frozen frame

Another most common issue that users face while watching videos is Frozen Frame or Frame Freeze; this usually happens due to an interruption in video file download due to the unstable Internet connection or multiple files downloads in parallel. Though the program runs the video, can’t continue as the rest or some parts of the file stands missing.

Interrupted video file download is not the only reason for the occurrence of the error, it can also happen because of display and graphics driver problems.

Display & Graphics drivers tell the hardware how to perform and how good the performance should be. Issues due to Display & Graphics drivers can be critical and may affect your system & its performance in adverse ways.

For getting rid of display & graphics driver issues you can uninstall the driver and install it again, or you can update the preinstalled driver:

1. Right-click the Start button and select the Device Manager.
2. Inside the Device Manager, expand the Display Adapters dropdown.
   Right-click Intel(R) HD Graphics and select Update Driver Software.
3. If you have the updated driver downloaded already select that, else choose Search automatically for the update driver software.

3. Codec issue

Well, you may again encounter with “Windows Media Player cannot play the file. The player might not support the file type or might not support the codec that was used to compress the file” error, and if it doesn’t get fixed by changing the video file format, then it could be a problem with the video codecs installed on the system.
People used to install a Codec package installer like K-Lite, Shark007, or CCCP for dealing with codec issues which is an old trick, but doing this creates the conflict within the system, and the player would fail to play the video file.

The solution to this problem is to uninstall all the Codec packages installed, restart the system, and try to play the video file again using the default video player application.

If the issue persists, we’d suggest installing the VLC media player. It is backed by the best developers in the field and is open-source. VLC supports immense range of video and audio file formats and has lots of advanced features.

4. Crackled & distorted sound

While watching the video content, the issue is not always related to video and playback errors; it could relate to sound as well.

Sound crackling and distortion is another problem that might break the flow of entertainment; the crackled and distorted sound is more than irritation, and you’d wish to do anything to stop it.

First, ensure that all the wires are properly connected with the speakers or headphones – if you’re using one and if it didn’t work then you might need to clear the enhancements from settings.

1. On the system tray, right-click the Sound icon.
2. Click on Playback devices.
3. The sound dialog box will open. Select Speakers, click on Properties button.
4. Switch to Enhancements tab. Checkmark Disable all enhancements and click Ok.
5. Click Apply; click Ok.

5. Video crash & black screen

If the video file you’re trying to play in Windows Media Player is repeatedly crashing, it is possible that the video file would be corrupt and so, you may have to download the video again.

The reason for the occurrence of Black Screen is compression, read/write errors, or virus attack. In cases when the format of video file has changed, the same can happen. Well, there is no direct way or method to tackle this issue, as there could be various reasons behind it, but you can try the following workarounds:

• Reduce Graphics Hardware Acceleration.
• Uninstall & Install the device drivers again.
• Try a different media player application, and again we’d suggest using VLC.

Above, we’ve listed the most common video errors users encounter on the system they are using. Neglecting the issues which get solved either by doing some small changes in audio & video settings or replacing the settings with the default ones, there remain many video & playback errors which require a more advanced approach.

Thus, for fixing corrupted or damaged video file errors and other errors which couldn’t be fixed the normal way, we’d recommend using a professional tool of the same genre.

Automated tool to repair & recover

Kernel Video Repair is an advanced tool which allows you to get rid of all video file errors with no extra efforts. The tool offers wide compatibility for different video file formats like MP4, WMV, AVI, MKV, 3GP, MPEG, WebM, etc.

The process of repairing a video file is smooth like that of a hot knife on butter, below are detailed steps for proper guidance:

1. Launch the Video Repair tool.
2. Click the + icon to add corrupt videos or drag the files from system and drop it here.
3. In the Open window, select the corrupt video files; click Open.
4. The files will get added. Now, click on the Repair Files button and initiate the process.
5. Finally, browse for a location to save the repaired file.
6. The file will start repairing. View the live progress.
7. File saved successfully.

Conclusion

It’s always best not to change or mess with the video & audio settings unless you’re well aware of what difference it would make, and if you did mess things up a little, we’d suggest downloading Kernel Video Repair tool and fixing things straight away.