Windows Media Player Codecs

Microsoft provides something called a Codec Installation Package which includes the MP4 codec for Windows Media Players along with a lot of other commonly used codec. In order to obtain the official codec package from Microsoft you will first have to visit their website which is www.microsoft.com and go to Downloads and Trials and then got to the Download center. In the search box where it says "search all download center" you should type in "codec" and press enter and this will open up approx 17 results.
You are supposed to choose the "Codec Installation Package for Windows Media Player 7.1 or later" because this is capable of supporting the latest Windows Media Players in the market namely Windows Media Player 10 and 11. You will be required to validate that you are a customer running a genuine version of Microsoft Windows in order for you to download the files. After you have finished downloading these files look for the one with .exe and double click on it in order for it to run.
For those computer users that are unfamiliar with the settings they are highly recommended to just click "Next" and get the basic setup installed. You can also use the K-Lite Mega Codec Pack. However you should know that this codec pack is not an official release from the Microsoft Corporation however it is a highly supported as well as frequently updated pack. Recent surveys have from different organizations have indicated that there are very many users who are choosing to use this pack as compared to the ones who chose to use the official Microsoft pack.
In order to get the K-Lite Mega Codec Pack you will need to follow a series of steps and this will start by going to the internet and looking for a website named . While on this website you should look on the left hand bar and look for a category called "Codec Packs". While here you can choose either the K-Lite Codec Pack or you can choose the K-Lite Mega Codec Pack as they are both capable of doing the job. You can then proceed to click on the big button named "Download the K-Lite Mega Codec Pack".
The website will then provide you with an access page that has a lot of download links that are spread across multiple mirrors and you are supposed to choose your preferred server to download from and it is important to note that whichever server you choose the files will be the same and this is what will initiate the downloading process that will take a few minutes. After the downloading is finished you are supposed to double click on the .exe file in order to run it. It is advisable to all the computer users that are not familiar with these type of applications to just install the recommended setup and this should be done by just clicking "next" for each of the pop up windows until you get to the one that has a "Finish" button.

About the Author

This article touched the basics of the topic. I have 2 more resources related to the above. They are windows media player mp4 and mp4 codec. They are worth a read.