Download the codec program. K-Lite Codec Pack: where to download, how to install

One of the most popular free packages codecs. Includes all used decoders, DirectShow filters and related tools. If you are faced with the fact that your player cannot open a movie or audio track because it “does not understand” a specific format, install K-Lite Codec Pack. Analogues of this product are often characterized by the fact that they do not provide for codec conflicts. So with the package in question this does not threaten you.

Ease of installation and use are a couple more advantages for which millions of advanced users choose K-Lite Codec Pack. Downloading this proven software for free for Windows will be especially interesting for those who like to download videos from torrent tracks and web services like YouTube and VKontakte.

Possibilities:

contains all the latest versions of the best multimedia codecs;
no conflicts between components and other software;
provides playback as popular formats such as AVI, MKV, MP4, WMA, MP3, WAV, and “problematic” ones like FLV, MPEG-2 for DVD, Wavpack, WEBM, FLAC, OGM, TS, M2TS, 3GP, RMVB;
selection of certain codecs at the discretion of the user;
partial removal or complete (without any traces);
detection and removal of damaged filters and codecs;
turns on the player Media Player Classic and Media Player Homecinema (except Basic version);
regular update.

Principle of operation:

a codec package is a necessary element for high-quality reproduction multimedia files on your computer. It happens that users install the first package they come across, and then have to suffer from the fact that some formats do not play or take too long to open. With this software you can be sure that this will not happen.

The second adds an MPEG-2 decoder to them for full DVD viewing and media players Player Classic and Media Player Homecinema.

The third and fourth are intended for advanced users and offer additional DirectShow filters that may be needed for professional processing video stream.

Pros:

simple installation;
Four versions of the package are offered;
ensures playback of all modern formats used;
K-Lite Codec Pack can be downloaded for free.

Minuses:

It is not yet possible to download K-Lite Codec Pack in Russian.

If you value comfort when watching movies and listening to music, we recommend getting the K-Lite Codec Pack. You can download the Basic, Standard, Full or Mega version with one click. Each of them takes up very little disk space, but guarantees the launch and high-quality playback of multimedia files.

14.8.8

Download for free the most popular set of codecs

K-Lite Codec Pack is the most popular set of video and audio codecs. Codecs are required to play video and audio files, and this set is designed to play all popular formats. Standard means operating room Windows systems and most popular players already contain the most popular codecs, but not all of them and sometimes they are not enough to play some videos. After K-Lite installations Codec Pack, any player installed on the system will support additional formats.

In general, this set is addressed to those users who constantly watch videos in different, including less common formats. The K-Lite Codec Pack has everything you need to watch quality videos.

K-Lite Codec Pack is very easy to use, regularly updated, contains all the necessary codecs, works great with all popular video players, uninstalls without any problems, has many users and any problems are detected and fixed very quickly.

You can download K-Lite Codec Pack in 4 different versions: Basic, Standard, Full and Mega. These versions differ in the set of codecs included in them. Most users will be satisfied with the Basic version, which includes only what is necessary. This version is unlikely to be useful to those users whose player already contains built-in codecs. The Standard version has additional codecs and a wonderful video player. Full version contains many rare codecs. The Mega version is a combination of two packages: K-Lite Codec Pack Full and Real Alternative (used to play RealMedia files).

K-Lite Codec Pack is a collection of DirectShow filters and VFW/ACM codecs. They are needed to view and create audio and video files.

The software gets rid of the error that the video format is not supported, installs the player and allows you to encode video and audio using various codecs.

What are codecs

Any information on a computer, including text, photographs, video and sound, can be written as a sequence of zeros and ones. The text can be written down in a very compact form (the entire text part of Wikipedia can fit on a flash drive), while graphics, sound, and especially video take up hundreds or even tens of thousands times more.

Codecs are programs and devices for storing information in digital form(in any format), as well as for compression all this data. All codecs can be divided into two conditional types:

Lossless compression data (in the so-called lossless-formats). Algorithms similar to those used by archivers when compressing files are used. Video frames encoded in this way will perfectly match the original ones, and will take up less space on your hard drive.
Lossy audio and video compression ( lossy formats). Most typical example- MP3 music files. Codecs that compress into lossy formats throw out “extra” sounds and image details. Due to the loss of some information that a person most likely will not notice, as well as due to lossless compression algorithms, the file size is smaller than lossless. Lossy encoding has one significant disadvantage: you can overdo it with compression, resulting in files with terrible sound and poor picture.

Among amateurs high-quality sound The debate continues about how best to store music - in lossless or lossy formats. On the one hand, lossless compression allows you to achieve one hundred percent compliance with the original, on the other hand, such an audio library will take up too much space. For videos and photos, the storage problem is also relevant. For example, over the years of its existence, the Youtube video site has changed the codecs used to compress video stored on servers several times. As a result, now we can watch the video acceptable quality in 4K resolution, which could not be done before, since 4K video simply would not have enough space hard drives servers.

Types of codecs

There are several types of codecs. Included in various collections different types, K-Lite has them all.

DirectShow filters- modern codec format and more. They are divided into three subspecies. Eat capture filters, which are responsible for receiving data from a file with video, music, and even physical devices like video cameras. Conversion filters allow you to decode and recode data, apply effects, and so on. Rendering (visualization) filters can display video and sound on the screen, speakers, other devices and save to a file.

All DirectShow filters work in a chain, which allows experienced users organize automatic processing video. For example, you can take images from surveillance cameras and display them on different screens, while simultaneously adjusting the brightness and contrast on some, take sound from separately connected microphones and save it all into one file with many tracks.

VFW standard codecs(Video for Windows). More old format codecs that appeared in 16-bit Windows versions before the appearance of the 95th. They are simpler than DirectShow filters and more limited in capabilities - they cannot be used in a chain. Most often, VFW codecs are needed by video editors to open and save (compress) files.

ACM (Audio Compression Manager) codecs. Same legacy standard as VFW, but for audio. Using these codecs, you can open and compress files into MP3, OGG, AAC, etc. formats.

Codecs can be installed on the system so that all programs can use them, or they can be used in separate software. Codecs can be separate program. The most typical example is an encoder. You can't watch a video with it, but you can easily convert it to another format. Such programs are not included in codec packs, because the task of the packs is to multimedia files opened in any program.

Codec packs are no longer needed to watch videos.

The problem of playing files is no longer as relevant as it was in the past. Windows times 98/2000/ME/XP. OS Windows 7/8/10 already contain necessary components, and if they are not there, there are always players with built-in codecs. Such as powerful

But there are still tasks where codec packs are useful: video editing And working with archived video and sound recordings, where files can be of very different formats

There are less popular codec collections:

CCCP: Combined Community Codec Pack (discontinued)
Kawaii Codec Pack (development stopped in 2015)
Codec Pack All-In-1 ( latest version came out back in 2006)

K-Lite Codec Pack is the most popular collection of codecs and the most useful because it contains not only codecs for opening video and audio, but also for compression, as well as several useful programs and player.

K-Lite is regularly updated, new versions are released, while the authors of alternative packs abandon their work. There are also two universal DirectShow codecs that solve the same problem without installing codecs from - different developers FFDShow (development stopped, included in the “megaversion” of the K-light pack) and(included in any K-Lite versions codec pack).

K-Lite Codec Pack

Where to download K-Lite

All versions are suitable for Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 and 10, both 32 and 64 bit.

There are four variants of the K-Lite Codec package:

1.Basic contains everything you need to play all common video file formats. Simply put, with it you will open AVI, MKV, MP4, OGM and FLV. This option is for those who like a small package with no bells and whistles. It's small, but it solves most problems with opening video files. Used for playback universal codec Love Video.

2.Standard contains several additional functions compared with basic option. But the most important thing is that it has a built-in simple and convenient player Media Player Classic. The DirectShow madVR filter is also built-in, which in conjunction with Media Player Classic gives best quality pictures compared to the system filter (when the picture is stretched, the result is b O better clarity).

3. Included Full(full) compared to standard option Added DirectShow filters, including the popular universal ffdshow filter. It has not been developed for a long time, unlike LAV Video, but it supports more formats and is able to replace more codecs. Also included in the full version is the GraphStudioNext program. This powerful tool developers of codecs and filters, which is included in the codec pack so that the user can see which system components are used to open a particular multimedia file.

4. Mega-option is the most complete K-Lite collection. Option for working with video. It contains standards codecs VFW And ACM For video and audio encoding and editing.

What to choose during installation

At the beginning of the installation, you can select a mode: Normal or Advanced. The difference is that in Advanced mode The component selection step (“Select components”) will appear. All other sections of the installer will be identical in both modes.

Installation Preferences Section

At the very beginning of the installation, the installer will ask several questions.

Preferred video/audio player- which player to prefer for opening multimedia.

Preferred video/audio decoder- which decoder to prefer (leave LAV video decoder, description will be below).

Create file associations- open files in the selected player.

Install MPC-HC as a secondary player- if another is selected, install Media Player Classic anyway.

Install codecs only for MPC-HC- install codecs only for Media Player Classic (some will still be installed as system codecs for everyone).

Amount of components to install- options for a set of codecs, the middle point is optimal. In Advanced mode, you can refine the set at the component selection step.

Install VFW codecs for video encoding- install codecs for encoding, i.e. creating videos.

Install only 64-bit components- install only 64-bit codecs, 32-bit programs will not see them.

Select Components Section

If you bet Basic or Standard, at this step you can click the “Next” button. There are few components, there is nothing to choose from.

IN Full And Mega There are significantly more codecs. Most likely, you know what you are doing if you choose these versions, but for those who are curious, I will tell you in more detail what is in them.

Right at the beginning of the installation, you can choose whether to install only codecs for playback, whether to install a player, or select your own set (Custom Selection item).

Let's go through all the points.

MPC-HC- This media player Player Classic. Functional player with many useful options. There are two versions to choose from, the difference is in the bit depth. It’s better to choose only one that matches the bitness of your Windows. Perhaps in the future the authors of the pack will switch to another player, because the development of Media Player Classic seems to have stopped in July 2017.

In chapter DirectShow video decoding filters there are modern codecs for video playback in any players, including Standard Media Player and Video Player Windows 10. The choice is given:

Filter LAV Video- standard for Basic and Standart versions of the pack, it supports H.264, H.265/HEVC, MPEG-4, MPEG-2, VC-1, WMV and several other less popular formats. This best choice, because the project is actively developing, all errors found are quickly eliminated and, in general, the codec decodes popular formats without problems.
Filter ffdshow- outdated this moment decoder, its development has been discontinued. Supports H.264, MPEG-4, MPEG-2, VC-1 and others. The decoder has one interesting opportunity: in the ffdshow settings you can enable image processing, making it brighter, increasing sharpness, turning it sideways, and so on. If your player does not have filters, but you need them, then video decoding via ffdshow will help you.
Xvid- for (de)coding MPEG-4 files. You can choose if for some reason you are not satisfied with LAV and ffdshow, but you can leave the above codecs for processing other formats.
Microsoft- the item is needed so that the selected format is still decoded by the codecs built into Windows.

Component selection options affect not so much the choice of what to install, but how codecs should behave. If the package version contains LAV Video and ffdshow, they will be installed in any case, they will simply not be used for formats where a different codec is selected.

Chapter DirectShow audio decoding filters contains codecs for sound playback.

LAV Audio- the same as LAV Video, a modern universal DirectShow filter. Supports AC3, DTS, E-AC3, MLP, LPCM, TrueHD, AAC, FLAG, OGG Vorbis, MP1, MP2, MP3, WMA, etc. formats.
ffdshow also present in the list, it can play AC3, DTS, E-AC3, MLP, LPCM, TrueHD, AAC, FLAG, OGG Vorbis, MP1, MP2, MP3 and, importantly, uncompressed PCM sound(.wav files). As with video, filters can be applied to audio.
AC3Filter- for decoding AC3, DTS, E-AC3, TrueHD, LPCM, AAC and MPEG. This DirectShow filter holds the record for the number of audio processing settings. You can amplify the sound, compress dynamic range, adjust the delay of individual audio tracks (needed if the speakers are on at different distances, to sound waves reached the listener at the same time), carry out mixing in real time... There are a lot of possibilities and most of them are not needed by the average user.

IN DirectShow source filters You can select video source filters. They are needed not for decoding codecs, but for opening containers - files, inside of which there will be video with sound. For example, extensions AVI files, MP4, MKV are talking about different containers.

LAV Splitter- for AVI, MP4, Matroska (MKV), MPEG-TS (MTS), MPEG-PS (PS) and others. When you select LAV Splitter as the standard source filter, you will be able to change audio tracks on the fly in any player via the LAV Splitter icon in the tray.
Haali Media Splitter- a once popular filter, it was used to turn on subtitles in unsupported players and switch audio tracks. Now it has been replaced by LAV Splitter as more functional.
DC-Bass Source Mod- needed to support OptimFROG files (.ofr .ofs extension) and open tracker music (.it .mo3 .mtm .s3m .umx .xm).

In chapter DirectShow subtitle filter there is only one point DirectVobSub. This filter will allow you to automatically connect subtitles from video files of the same name. Not relevant now because popular players already support subtitles stored both inside video files and external ones with the .srt extension.

Chapter Other Filters includes two DirectShow visualization filters for displaying images in players.

MadVR- a very powerful filter that allows you to qualitatively scale the image and, what is important, make the frame change smooth.
Haali Video Renderer- a filter whose development has long been discontinued, does not really work, it is unclear why it was included in the K-Lite Codec Pack.

IN VFW video codecs There are codecs of the Video for Windows standard. If you use old video editing software or VirtualDub, then you need them.

ffdshow VFW interface- VFW part for ffdshow, which I mentioned above. Allows you to save in FFV1, HuffYUV, DV and MJPEG.
Xvid- a free compatible alternative to the once popular DivX (MPEG-4).
x264VFW- for encoding video in the H.264 format, which is the next evolutionary step after MPEG-4.
huffyuv- lossless codec for encoding and decoding video files of the same format.
Lagarith- modified huffyuv, compresses stronger, no data loss either.

ACM Audio Codes needed for audio compression.

MP3 (LAME) is a popular MP3 codec for audio compression in programs such as VirtualDub. It will only be installed if there are no other MP3 codecs in the system.
AC3ACM- for AC3 format. AC3 has two features: there can be many audio tracks and the technology is protected by patents. Because of this, many players on phones do not support the AC3 format. IN Windows players There are no problems with this.

In chapter Tools there are utilities.

Codec Tweak Tool- a program for reconfiguring codecs and resetting their settings. In it you can replace LAV with ffdshow without reinstalling the K-Lite Codec Pack.
MediaInfo Lite- for display detailed information about codecs inside multimedia files.
GraphStudioNext- very much powerful utility for developers of DirectShow filters. In the K-Lite Codec Pack, it is most likely included because of the function of viewing which filters are used when opening a particular file.
Haali Muxer- a utility for packaging individual audio and video files into Matroska containers (.mkv).
VobSubStrip- a tool for solving a specific task: extracting subtitles for a specific language from files in .idx and .sub formats.
FourCC Changer- a program that changes the label about the codec used in video files. This is useful if the required codec is not used when opening a video file.

IN Explorer shell extensions Windows Explorer extensions are located.

Icaros ThumbnailProvider allows you to see the contents of video files in popular formats in thumbnail view.
Icaros PropertyHandler allows you to view the width, height, frame rate, duration in the properties of files with extensions .flv, .mkv, .ogm, .rmvb, .webm, .ape, .flac, .mka, .mpc, .ofr, .opus, .spx , .tak, .tta, .wv.

IN Miscellaneous there are two options - Detect broken codecs And Detect broken DirectShow filters, which include checking codecs and DS filters already installed in the system. If something is wrong with them (damaged or missing files and entries in Windows registry), they can be deleted. The same function is available in Codec Tweak Tool.

Additional Tasks and Options Section

On next step The installer will clarify several settings.

Their number will differ depending on your choice in the previous step. Most of the settings are clear based on their names; I’ll tell you only about the most important ones:

Reset all settings to their defaults- reset all codec settings. Useful if you update the codec pack from old version or an alternative one has been installed.

Windows Media Player: register supported file formats - standard player Windows Media will open formats supported by installed codecs.

Optimized preferred decoders settings: The installer will adjust the system codec settings to optimal values, according to the authors of K-Lite Codec Pack. You can later change them manually using the Codec Tweak Tool.

Add to Explorer context menu - in the menu by right click mouse will appear new item"MediaInfo" to easily open video and music files in the MediaInfo program.

Hardware acceleration section

Here it is configured hardware acceleration video decoding. This is important for watching high definition movies.

You can select the decoding method (universal and problem-free - DXVA2 copy-back), and also enable acceleration only in the Media Player Classic player (item “Only use hardware acceleration in combination with MPC-HC”).

MPC-HC configuration section

Appears when you select Media Player Classic.

An important option here is the choice of video renderer (“Video renderer”). If you bet madVR, choose it, otherwise the optimal one will be Enhanced Video Renderer (Custom Presenter).

Preferred language(s) for audio and subtitles section

Here you can set your selection preferences soundtrack. The settings in the screenshot below are the most universal for a Russian-speaking user.

If there is a Russian track in the video, it will be included. If not, then English and subtitles in Russian (if available).

File associations section

Allows you to specify which player to use to open audio and video files.

Due to the way file associations are assigned in Windows 10 this step may not affect the choice and you will have to assign programs manually through Control Panel - Default Applications.

Depending on the checked boxes, additional steps, where you can select in detail the associations of the program with file types.

Audio Configuration Section

Here you can select the type of your speakers.

Thumbnails section

Last step. Here you can set which videos to show in the thumbnail view.

After installation

Restart your computer, otherwise some codecs will not work correctly.

If you need to change any codec or filter settings, there will be a K-Lite Codec Pack folder in the Start menu with shortcuts to settings and utilities.