<p>I have a video file that plays fine in VLC, but only shows 100% black frames in Windows Media Player, and in other applications that depend on system codecs (for example in MATLAB, which is where I need to load this video). The audio plays fine in either case.</p>

<p>I am running Windows 10. VLC says that the video codec is "Codec: H264 - MPEG-4 AVC (part 10) (H264)". </p>

<p>Windows Media Player provides the following list of video codecs installed:
<a href="https://i.sstatic.net/EDOp2.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/EDOp2.png" alt="List of video codecs"></a></p>

<p>Here is the output of ffprobe on the video:</p>

<pre><code>&gt;ffprobe example_video.avi
ffprobe version git-2020-05-28-c0f01ea Copyright (c) 2007-2020 the FFmpeg developers
  built with gcc 9.3.1 (GCC) 20200523
  configuration: --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --enable-sdl2 --enable-fontconfig --enable-gnutls --enable-iconv --enable-libass --enable-libdav1d --enable-libbluray --enable-libfreetype --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libopus --enable-libshine --enable-libsnappy --enable-libsoxr --enable-libsrt --enable-libtheora --enable-libtwolame --enable-libvpx --enable-libwavpack --enable-libwebp --enable-libx264 --enable-libx265 --enable-libxml2 --enable-libzimg --enable-lzma --enable-zlib --enable-gmp --enable-libvidstab --enable-libvmaf --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvo-amrwbenc --enable-libmysofa --enable-libspeex --enable-libxvid --enable-libaom --disable-w32threads --enable-libmfx --enable-ffnvcodec --enable-cuda-llvm --enable-cuvid --enable-d3d11va --enable-nvenc --enable-nvdec --enable-dxva2 --enable-avisynth --enable-libopenmpt --enable-amf
  libavutil      56. 49.100 / 56. 49.100
  libavcodec     58. 89.100 / 58. 89.100
  libavformat    58. 43.100 / 58. 43.100
  libavdevice    58.  9.103 / 58.  9.103
  libavfilter     7. 83.100 /  7. 83.100
  libswscale      5.  6.101 /  5.  6.101
  libswresample   3.  6.100 /  3.  6.100
  libpostproc    55.  6.100 / 55.  6.100
[avi @ 000002127a03fe00] decoding for stream 0 failed
Input #0, avi, from 'mergeWrite_19129058_merged_2019-11-26-16-45-12-536196.avi':
  Metadata:
    encoder         : Lavf58.20.100
  Duration: 00:00:04.08, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 451526 kb/s
    Stream #0:0: Video: h264 (High 4:4:4 Predictive) (H264 / 0x34363248), yuv444p(progressive), 1280x1024, 456108 kb/s, 30 fps, 30 tbr, 30 tbn, 60 tbc
    Stream #0:1: Audio: mp3 (U[0][0][0] / 0x0055), 22050 Hz, stereo, fltp, 64 kb/s
</code></pre>

<p>Do you think installing a new codec would help? Can anyone point me towards a place to get them that doesn't seem really sketchy? Thank you!</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-05-23T02:03:30.507Z
H264 is bog standard, the windows player should be able to play it. But to answer your question, the K-lite codec pack is good. TBH it looks kinda sketchy — that website — but it's not, has been around for decades and is used by millions of people. https://www.codecguide.com/download_kl.htm
stib
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-05-28T17:33:12.450Z
@stib Thank you. I looked around at other people's experiences with that website, and there are a lot of reports of malware being bundled with downloads...so I'm a little wary of that.
Brionius
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-05-28T17:33:50.473Z
Can anyone point me to a tool or procedure I might use to diagnose exactly why this H264 video plays correctly in VLC but is all black frames in WMP? Thanks!
Brionius
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-05-29T03:47:43.533Z
I'm a professional editor, I've been using it for about a decade, as have around 3.7 million other people. But always good to be wary. Only download it from the codecguide site, or using chocolatey or a trusted package manager. If you want to know exactly what's going on, I'd suggest ffprobe, which is part of ffmpeg. https://ffmpeg.org
stib
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-05-29T13:32:13.537Z
Thank you for the vote of confidence in codecguide.com, and for the suggestion. I added the output of ffprobe on the video - not sure what to make of "decoding for stream 0 failed". Maybe there's an ffprobe option that would give more details?
Brionius
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-05-30T11:47:07.977Z
I don't think windows media player can play yuv444p h.264 video, that's a relatively new addtion to the format and not in common use. You could convert to a more vanilla yuv420p mp4 using `ffmpeg -i example.avi eaxample_copy.mp4` This will be at the expense of some quality though.
stib
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-06-03T16:05:07.257Z
Thank you!! That was the problem. I tried converting the videos to yuv420 and it opens correctly in WMP. If you'd like to turn your comment into an answer, I'll accept it.
Brionius
<video><codec><h.264><vlc>
How do I get Windows Media Player and other tools that depend on system codecs to play this video file?
Brionius
# How do I get Windows Media Player and other tools that depend on system codecs to play this video file?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-05-22)

I have a video file that plays fine in VLC, but only shows 100% black frames in Windows Media Player, and in other applications that depend on system codecs (for example in MATLAB, which is where I need to load this video). The audio plays fine in either case.
I am running Windows 10. VLC says that the video codec is "Codec: H264 - MPEG-4 AVC (part 10) (H264)". 
Windows Media Player provides the following list of video codecs installed:

Here is the output of ffprobe on the video:
>ffprobe example_video.avi
ffprobe version git-2020-05-28-c0f01ea Copyright (c) 2007-2020 the FFmpeg developers
  built with gcc 9.3.1 (GCC) 20200523
  configuration: --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --enable-sdl2 --enable-fontconfig --enable-gnutls --enable-iconv --enable-libass --enable-libdav1d --enable-libbluray --enable-libfreetype --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libopus --enable-libshine --enable-libsnappy --enable-libsoxr --enable-libsrt --enable-libtheora --enable-libtwolame --enable-libvpx --enable-libwavpack --enable-libwebp --enable-libx264 --enable-libx265 --enable-libxml2 --enable-libzimg --enable-lzma --enable-zlib --enable-gmp --enable-libvidstab --enable-libvmaf --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvo-amrwbenc --enable-libmysofa --enable-libspeex --enable-libxvid --enable-libaom --disable-w32threads --enable-libmfx --enable-ffnvcodec --enable-cuda-llvm --enable-cuvid --enable-d3d11va --enable-nvenc --enable-nvdec --enable-dxva2 --enable-avisynth --enable-libopenmpt --enable-amf
  libavutil      56. 49.100 / 56. 49.100
  libavcodec     58. 89.100 / 58. 89.100
  libavformat    58. 43.100 / 58. 43.100
  libavdevice    58.  9.103 / 58.  9.103
  libavfilter     7. 83.100 /  7. 83.100
  libswscale      5.  6.101 /  5.  6.101
  libswresample   3.  6.100 /  3.  6.100
  libpostproc    55.  6.100 / 55.  6.100
[avi @ 000002127a03fe00] decoding for stream 0 failed
Input #0, avi, from 'mergeWrite_19129058_merged_2019-11-26-16-45-12-536196.avi':
  Metadata:
    encoder         : Lavf58.20.100
  Duration: 00:00:04.08, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 451526 kb/s
    Stream #0:0: Video: h264 (High 4:4:4 Predictive) (H264 / 0x34363248), yuv444p(progressive), 1280x1024, 456108 kb/s, 30 fps, 30 tbr, 30 tbn, 60 tbc
    Stream #0:1: Audio: mp3 (U[0][0][0] / 0x0055), 22050 Hz, stereo, fltp, 64 kb/s

Do you think installing a new codec would help? Can anyone point me towards a place to get them that doesn't seem really sketchy? Thank you!

**Tags:** video, codec, h.264, vlc

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: H264 is bog standard, the windows player should be able to play it. But to answer your question, the K-lite codec pack is good. TBH it looks kinda sketchy — that website — but it's not, has been around for decades and is used by millions of people. https://www.codecguide.com/download_kl.htm  
> **username_0**: @username_1 Thank you. I looked around at other people's experiences with that website, and there are a lot of reports of malware being bundled with downloads...so I'm a little wary of that.  
> **username_0**: Can anyone point me to a tool or procedure I might use to diagnose exactly why this H264 video plays correctly in VLC but is all black frames in WMP? Thanks!  
> **username_1**: I'm a professional editor, I've been using it for about a decade, as have around 3.7 million other people. But always good to be wary. Only download it from the codecguide site, or using chocolatey or a trusted package manager. If you want to know exactly what's going on, I'd suggest ffprobe, which is part of ffmpeg. https://ffmpeg.org  
> **username_0**: Thank you for the vote of confidence in codecguide.com, and for the suggestion. I added the output of ffprobe on the video - not sure what to make of "decoding for stream 0 failed". Maybe there's an ffprobe option that would give more details?  
> **username_1**: I don't think windows media player can play yuv444p h.264 video, that's a relatively new addtion to the format and not in common use. You could convert to a more vanilla yuv420p mp4 using `ffmpeg -i example.avi eaxample_copy.mp4` This will be at the expense of some quality though.  
> **username_0**: Thank you!! That was the problem. I tried converting the videos to yuv420 and it opens correctly in WMP. If you'd like to turn your comment into an answer, I'll accept it.  

---

## 0 answers

