Useful Solutions When Computer Won't Play Videos

Eleanor Reed

Dec 18, 2020 • Filed to: Photo/Video/Audio Solutions • Proven solutions

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The computer won't play videos is nothing new. It happens regularly, and when you experience it, it can be frustrating. Whether your computer is failing to play videos that you recorded yourself or streaming videos from the internet, you should note that all videos are susceptible to various issues that cause corruption, damage, or inaccessibility. All you need to do in such situations is to take it easy. This article will show you how you can fix the computer won't play video problem.

Part 1. Different Errors About Computer Not Playing Videos

You intend to watch your favorite video that you downloaded from the internet or recorded yourself, but immediately see an error message on your device's screen. You ask yourself, why are my videos not playing on my computer? Well, different error codes indicate that there is something that could be affecting the playback of your videos.

An error occurs when there is no connection. Below are some of the video errors that you can encounter while playing a video:

• This error happens when you lose the internet connection while watching a video. It means there is no internet connection in between. As a result, there is usually a gray fuzzy background.
• It can also happen due to problems in connection to the server. Hence, the video is either removed from the server or the internet connection is not stable resulting in problems to play video files.
• The video not available error happens when you can't play the video file. This is because the video has been deleted or removed from its source.
• An error such as video error 500 occurs because of internal issues with your browser. The browser's cache can contribute to this failure to play the video files.
• You can also encounter the error loading media: File could not be played while watching a video online. This usually happens when you try to load a video file in a non-supported format using any media player.

Part 2. How to Solve "Computer Cannot Play Videos" Issue

Step 1. Verify Error & Cause of Computer Not Playing Video

It can be quite difficult to figure out the exact cause Computer Won't Play Videos. No wonder, you can easily get confused as to whether the problem is with the media player, video file, device, or browser.

Regardless of the situation, it makes sense to verify the error and cause of the computer not playing. The best way is to use the troubleshooter tool on your Windows computer. Here is how you can troubleshoot on your computer:

• Press on the Windows keys + R options.
• In the Run dialogue box, you can type msdt.exe -id WindowsMediaPlayerConfigurationDiagnostic. Then click on the OK to access the Windows Media Player Settings.

• In the Windows Media Player settings, you can click Advanced and then select the Run as administrator.
• Click the Next option and Apply this Fix to troubleshoot and solve the Computer Won't Play Videos.

Step 2. Check Easy Options on Computer

Outdated or corrupt Display Drivers can lead to Computer Won't Play Videos. Therefore, you can resolve this issue by updating the display drivers on your device. This can be done manually via the Device Manager on your Windows computer. Here are the steps to update the drivers on your computer:

• Go to the Start option and then type Device Manager.
• Choose the Device Manager.

• Double-click on the Display adapters.
• Lastly, right-click on the video driver and click on the Update driver software.

Step 3. Try Ultimate Video Repair Software

If none of the above steps work, your best option is to use a reliable video repair software because your video file is perhaps damaged or corrupt. Wondershare Video Repair software is one of its kind video repair tool that has been tested and approved by various data recovery experts on multiple factors.

This video repair tool can help you repair grainy videos, blurry videos, flickering in videos, video playback interruption, and many other video file issues. To sum up, here are some of the unique features this tool has:

• You can repair multiple formats of video files at the same time, such as MOV, MP4, M2TS, MKV, MTS, 3GP, AVI, and FLV.
• It allows you a free scan for corrupt videos and you can preview repaired videos before saving to any location of your choice.
• The tool repairs videos from various devices, including SD card, memory card, external hard disk, and computer hard drive.
• There is no limitation on the size of the video files you need to repair.

Remember that Wondershare Video Repair software has basic and advanced repair modes. So you can use the basic repair mode for simple errors and the advanced repair mode for complex errors in your videos. The process involves the following five simple steps:

Step 1. Add corrupted video

Launch Wondershare Video Repair software and then add the corrupt video on the home screen. You can load the damaged or corrupted video files in two ways:

• Click on the Add video and start repairing.
• Click on the Add button.

You can add various video formats, such as MOV, MP4, M2TS, MKV, MTS, 3GP, AVI, and FLV. Also, you can add several formats simultaneously.

Step 2. Repair corrupted videos

When you have downloaded the corrupted video(s), you can now click on the Repair button to continue. When the repair is done, a pop-up window will show you to save and preview the repaired video. Then click on the OK button to save the repaired video.

Step 3. Preview the repaired video

To preview the restored video, you can click on the triangle. In this way, you can check whether the video repair was perfectly done so that you can save it.

Step 4. Add sample video

Now, this method is designed for critically corrupted video files. You can click on the Advanced Repair and click on the folder icon so you can add a sample video. A sample video refers to a video that has the same format and was recorded by the same device as the corrupted video. Hence, the tool will use information from the sample video to repair the corrupted video.

You can click on the Repair button. Here, you will see save the repaired video before you continue with the advanced repair. This is because the Advanced Repair mode doesn't save the repaired video automatically. Therefore, you can click on the Yes or No depending on your choice.

Step 5. Save the repaired video

When asked, click on the Save option and then select the location. It's a good idea to choose another location from the original one to prevent corruption once more.

Part 3. How to Solve Specific Computer Video Errors

Most computer video errors arise due to the absence of the supporting codecs, video corruption, issues with the device drivers. The troubleshooting to resolve the problems depends on the issue. Here is how to solve computer won't play videos:

Solution 1: Disable third-party cookies to solve an error that has occurred

One of the most common errors you can encounter is possibly an error that has occurred. It usually happens when you lose the internet connection on your device. Another cause of an error that has occurred can be disabled cookies.

If you are watching YouTube videos, you should be aware that YouTube makes use of cookies. Therefore, if you disable cookies, you might see this error. To fix this problem, you should enable cookies by doing the following:

• Open your browser and click on the Menu option. Then choose the Settings from the menu.
• Scroll down and click on the Advanced.
• In the Privacy and Security option, click on the Content settings.

• Go to the Cookies part and find the Block third-party cookies setting and turn them off.

Solution 2: Download codecs to fix a black screen error

A black screen while trying to play videos can be annoying and this problem can be due to missing codecs. Codec files are important in encoding and decoding digital data. So to fix this computer video error, you need to install supporting codecs on your computer. You can download codecs for your Windows Media Player by taking the steps below:

• In Windows Media Player, go to the Tools and Options to find the Player.
• Choose the Download codecs automatically.

• Now you can play the video file, but you should click install codec if prompted.

Solution 3: A manual approach to solving QuickTime error 23132

The QuickTime error 23132 is an error that happens because of the Windows systems files damage. Virus infection, corrupt Windows Registry, and many other causes contribute to this error. To resolve this problem, you can either use software or a manual approach. Here is the manual approach:

• You can update your computer's device drivers.

• Registry entries repair linked to the error.
• Update Windows to perform Windows Clean Installation.
• Undo any recent system changes by using Windows System Restore.

Solution 4: Update graphics drivers to fix video distortion

Video distortion can happen after you upgrade to Windows 10. Various factors can cause this error including hardware failure, faulty CPU, and problems with drivers. Hence, you can determine that your video is distorted if it has streaks, a broken Pixel, freezing, and a stretch.

The most common solution is to manually update graphics drivers. You can go to the manufacturer's website to check the latest graphic drivers. Follow these steps to update or install the latest driver:

• Go to the Start and the Settings option. Here, you will find the Update and Security, then click on the Windows Update.
• Select the Check for Updates and click on the optional updates that are available.

• Lastly, select the required driver and click on the OK button.

Solution 5: Disable copy protection in your Windows Media Player to fix error code 0xc00d36c4

Does the 0xc00d36c4 error code pop up when you try to play from a DVD or USB flash drive on your computer? This can be because of the conflict which is there between your computer and the USB drive. Therefore, you need to try to reinstall the USB controllers on your computer. Below are the steps to remove and reinstall the USB controllers on your Windows computer:

• Press the Windows key + X key and choose the Device Manager.
• In the Device Manager window, go down to the Universal Serial Bus Controllers and then double-click on it.
• Here, right-click on each of the USB devices that are under the Universal Serial Bus Controllers. Now select the uninstall option.

• Finally, restart your computer. You will see that the USB controllers are reinstalled, so connect the USB device to your computer to find out if the 0xc00d36c4 error code has been fixed.

Part 4. How to Prevent Video Problems on Computer

Many factors can contribute to video problems on your computer, including some that are associated with your device or computer. Therefore, it's important to know some tricks that can help you to avoid these problems. For this reason, this part will give you some tips and suggestions to enable you to keep having an excellent video viewing experience.

• Disable extra browser extensions, add ons, or plugins. Third-party programs are the major contributing factor in video playback problems, such as dropped frames, blocked video segments, buffering, and so on. Therefore, to prevent having such problems, you should consider disabling some of these extra programs, especially if you're already having these problems. Better still, you can use an incognito window to open your video and see how it's performing.
• Be selective with the video files you receive. Make sure that you receive or download video files from only trusted sources. Here is the deal, most of the video files you transfer to your computer can be carrying a virus, leading to corruption in the video files.
• Disable or enable hardware acceleration. Hardware acceleration can help your computer system to run more efficiently. However, sometimes it might not work well when you have older graphics cards. So you should disable or enable hardware acceleration which is within your web browser.
• Eject drivers properly. You should always eject drives properly from your file, meaning you should do this before you pull them out from your computer. In other words, avoid removing your drives from your device before properly ejecting them. In this way, you will prevent causing damages to your system including file corruption.
• Update software regularly. The Operating System, Media player, and File Manager should always be updated regularly. This is because these applications are involved in the smooth running of your video files.

Closing Words

Workable Solutions When Computer Won't Play Videos shared in this article can resolve playback errors caused by codec, graphics drivers, third-party programs, and many more.

But, complex video playback problems that are caused by corruption, such as black screen, errors in movement of the video, grainy videos, blurry videos, etc are best repaired with professional video repair tools like Wondershare Video Repair software. This software has been tested by data recovery experts and has smart features, such as an intuitive and user-friendly interface.