Windows 10: mpg files on windows 10 / media player

I was pretty mortified to find Windows Media Player on Windows 10 can no longer play mpg files like I was used to in Windows 7. I guess this was not an intended outcome but has much to do with Microsoft stripping out dvd playback from Media Player and this is a side effect. Attempts to play the mpg files in question result in only audio but no video. It's not the end of the world because I have other software (Cyberlink media show) that can play them just fine. But I miss the convenience of Media Player and the ability of Windows Explorer being able to generate a helpful thumbnail. I may just convert them to MP4 soon as I only have a few videos of my son and it won't take long but I'd be keen to hear of workarounds.

So I wonder if there is a way of fixing this so Media Player will work with them and thumbnails will generate, without having to resort to dodgy codec packs and their dodgy installers. Fingers have been burned on codec packs before.

Cheers,
Wayne

:)

 

Problem with Windows Media Player 12 in Windows 10 Home 64 bit

I have suddenly had problem opening MPG video files in Windows Media Player. The mpg files will play in other players such as VLC Media Player. The inability to play mpg files has just happened and trying system restore points did not solve it.

I get the following message every time I try and open a mpg file.

"Windows Media Player has stopped working. A problem caused the program to stop working properly.

Windows will close the program and notify you if a solution is available."

No solution was forthcoming. In all other respects WMP works fine. I tried installing a MPG codec to no avail. I would like to overwrite WMP with a fresh download of version12 64 bit version but seem unable to download the program. I don't want to reinstall
Windows 10 again in case things go wrong.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thank You.

***Post moved by the moderator to the appropriate forum category.***

 

Media player on windows 10 won't play an mpg file

I tutor a class in video editing, and a student has a problem. A new HP laptop, windows 10, and the media player on that machine which will not play (2 ways - double click on file, and file\open ) an .mpg file resident on a usb3 memory stick, attached to
a usb3 port. The media player screen is just blue, the play indicator runs across the screen, but no image or audio is evident.

The same .mpg file on that memory stick attached to a usb3 port on my somewhat older hp laptop running windows 7 plays fine in the media player thereon. So it's clear there's nothing wrong with the file or the memory stick.

A check with the file associations via the win10 control panel show that an .mpg file should auto start media player when clicked. Which it does, but the result in the player window is imagery and audio gone missing.

So, what could be wrong or configured incorrectly on the win10 media player that gives this 'gone missing' result?

***Post moved by the moderator to the appropriate forum category.***

 

WMP hasn't seen much development since Windows 7. You could try this codec pack.

Failing that, VLC is a decent alternative.

 

MS has never provided codecs for all video types with WMP. I know I've had to install codecs on XP, Win 7, Win 8 and Win 10 to be able to play all the content I have.

As Swarfega said, VLC is an alternative and includes codecs for just about everything.

 

I guess not all mpg files are created equally because I just searched my PC for all *.mpg files and each of them played fine in WMP on Windows 10.