Windows Media Player is available for Windows-based devices. Use this table to find the right version of the Player for your system. (If you've got a Mac, you can download Windows Media Components for QuickTime to play Windows Media files.)

Operating system/browser

Player version

How to get it

Windows 10

Windows Media Player 12
Learn more

Included in clean installs of Windows 10 as well as upgrades to Windows 10 from Windows 8.1 or Windows 7. In some editions of Windows 10, it's included as an optional feature that you can enable. To do that, select the Start button, then select Settings > Apps > Apps & features > Manage optional features > Add a feature > Windows Media Player, and select Install.

DVD playback isn't included. Go to the DVD playback for Windows page to find out how to add DVD playback to Windows 10.

Windows 8.1

Windows Media Player 12
Learn more

Included in Windows 8.1 and Windows 8.1 Pro, but doesn't include DVD playback. Go to the DVD playback for Windows page to find out how to add DVD playback to Windows 8.1. For Windows Media Player 12 for Windows 8.1 N and KN editions, get the Media Feature Pack.

Windows RT 8.1

N/A

Windows Media Player isn't available for Windows RT 8.1.

Windows 7

Windows Media Player 12
Learn more

Included in Windows 7 Starter, Home Premium, Professional, Ultimate, and Enterprise editions. For Windows 7 N or KN editions, get the Media Feature Pack.

Mac OS X

Windows Media Components for QuickTime

Internet Explorer uses the Embedded Media Player plugin by default to play live video and the FBGST plugin to play recorded video. ESM will prompt you to install any missing plugins when logging in. To install any missing plugins, click the blue download link on the Prerequisites page and run the downloaded installer. If you're here because MP4 video has stopped working after you upgraded to Firefox 49.0 or higher, that happens because 49.0 introduces a new pair of preferences. You now need to set media.gmp-eme-adobe.visible and media.gmp-eme-adobe.forceSupported to true; media.gmp-eme-adobe.forcevisible is no longer used. This is a simple, yet powerful media player that supports audio boosting to 300% and playback rate speed up to 8 times. It has a minimal interface and only appends controls that are not provided by default by the VIDEO element. This extension offers to play media files from a local disk or a remote resource. No sound with HTML5 video player under firefox or chromium with Ubuntu Gnome 15.04. Firefox does not play YouTube HTML5 videos. Firefox / html5 video /wifi.

If you want to reinstall Windows Media Player, try the following:

Video
  1. Click the Start button, type features, and select Turn Windows features on or off.

  2. Scroll down and expand Media Features, clear the Windows Media Player check box, and click OK.

  3. Restart your device. Windows Media Player should be uninstalled.

  4. Repeat step 1.

  5. Scroll down and expand Media Features, select the Windows Media Player check box, and click OK.

  6. Restart your device. Windows Media player should now be reinstalled.

Note: To troubleshoot issues like playback and codec problems, see the 'Get help' section in Windows Media Player.

The HTML <video> element is used to show a video on a web page.

Example

Courtesy of Big Buck Bunny:

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The HTML <video> Element

To show a video in HTML, use the <video> element:

Example

<video width='320' height='240' controls>
<source src='movie.mp4' type='video/mp4'>
<source src='movie.ogg' type='video/ogg'>
Your browser does not support the video tag.
</video>
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How it Works

The controls attribute adds video controls, like play, pause, and volume.

It is a good idea to always include width and height attributes. If height and width are not set, the page might flicker while the video loads.

Firefox

The <source> element allows you to specify alternative video files which the browser may choose from. The browser will use the first recognized format.

The text between the <video> and </video> tags will only be displayed in browsers that do not support the <video> element.

HTML <video> Autoplay

To start a video automatically, use the autoplay attribute:

Example

<video width='320' height='240' autoplay>
<source src='movie.mp4' type='video/mp4'>
<source src='movie.ogg' type='video/ogg'>
Your browser does not support the video tag.
</video>
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Note: Chromium browsers do not allow autoplay in most cases. However, muted autoplay is always allowed.

Add muted after autoplay to let your video start playing automatically (but muted):

Example

<video width='320' height='240' autoplay muted>
<source src='movie.mp4' type='video/mp4'>
<source src='movie.ogg' type='video/ogg'>
Your browser does not support the video tag.
</video>
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Browser Support

The numbers in the table specify the first browser version that fully supports the <video> element.

Element
<video>4.09.03.54.010.5

HTML Video Formats

There are three supported video formats: MP4, WebM, and Ogg. The browser support for the different formats is:

BrowserMP4WebMOgg
EdgeYESYESYES
ChromeYESYESYES
FirefoxYESYESYES
SafariYESYESNO
OperaYESYESYES

HTML Video - Media Types

File FormatMedia Type
MP4video/mp4
WebMvideo/webm
Oggvideo/ogg

Firefox Video Player Update For Mac

HTML Video - Methods, Properties, and Events

The HTML DOM defines methods, properties, and events for the <video> element.

This allows you to load, play, and pause videos, as well as setting duration and volume.

There are also DOM events that can notify you when a video begins to play, is paused, etc.

Example: Using JavaScript



Video courtesy of Big Buck Bunny.

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Firefox Video Player Download

For a full DOM reference, go to our HTML Audio/Video DOM Reference.

HTML Video Tags

TagDescription
<video>Defines a video or movie
<source>Defines multiple media resources for media elements, such as <video> and <audio>
<track>Defines text tracks in media players