MKV player for Windows becomes increasingly significant to us. But before discussing MKV player Windows programs, we’d like to introduce what is MKV and how it works.
MKV, also known as Matroska Multimedia Container, is one of the most popular video formats that are used to store movies and videos. There is a reason behind this popularity. A single MKV file can hold as many numbers of videos, pictures, audio files, and subtitle tracks as it wants.
Some MKV Windows media players may encounter issues when playing MKV files. Maybe that’s why you are here. So, today we will suggest the Top 3 best MKV player Windows software.
DVDFab Player 6
At first glance, this MKV player for Windows will look like just an MKV media player. But DVDFab Player 6 is much more than that. As an innovative MKV player for Windows 7, this media center can play all types of multimedia files and manage your media library efficiently using Poster Walls.
DVDFab will detect the movies present in your HDD and download posters for those media files from the internet. Then, it will divide the movies into different groups. You will be able to see the metadata information of the movies and TV shows by clicking on the posters. Even if the MKV file doesn’t have any metadata, DVDFab media player will get accurate information from major online databases.
DVDs and Blu-ray disks come with navigation menus that provide a premium experience to the viewers. DVDFab media player has support for navigation menu playback on the latest generation of DVDs and Blu-ray discs. It doesn’t matter whether you have a genuine disc or a ripped .ISO file, DVDFab will show you an awesome navigation menu for the best playback experience. Their TrueTheater technology will provide you with a cinema-like home theater experience right at your fingertips.
MKV files have FLAC lossless audio, so it gives you the best audio experience compared to any other audio format. And DVDFab Player 6 will take it up a notch. You can create a smart, intelligent library for all your local music files. Just locate the music files present in your HDD, or the disk and DVDFab will automatically organize it for you. Now, you can not only watch videos but also listen to high-quality music with the best experience as well.
You can create as many customized playlists as you want. This will be helpful in better playback control and management, plus you can select a playlist and listen to songs based on your mood. You can even add a song to your Favorites to listen to all of them with just a single click.
How to Play MKV Files on DVDFab Player 6
Here are the steps you need to follow to play an MKV file.
Step 1: Open DVDFab Player 6. On the home screen, you will see two modes – PC Mode and TV Mode. Choose one of them.
Step 2: If you select PC mode, there are three ways of loading the video you want to watch – insert a disc and play it, drag any file and drop it in the media player, browse your hard drive and find the file you want to play, or create your own media library.
For TV mode, you can select any video file from the optical drive or your HDD. Later we will bring a feature named DVDFab Movie Server to give you greater access to movies. You can use the Remote Control for Windows Media Center to navigate through the videos and menus.
Pros:
- User-friendly UI
- Automatically find the metadata of audio and video files
- Efficiently manage all media files
- Can output high-resolution audio
Cons:
- Some customers have complained that some discs are not loading properly.
- Facing slight rendering issues even with high-end hardware
Other Features
DVDFab Player can output high-resolution audio like Dolby Atmos, Dolby TrueHD, DTS:X, etc., without any loss in quality. It even supports 7.1 surround sound. So, if you own an acoustic system that comes with state-of-the-art technology, just hook it up with your computer and use DVDFab Player to get the best experience from MKV audio files.
If you have 3D movies and videos in the form of MK3D, feel free to play them on your computer. This media player provides support for both 3D discs and ISO files. There are four 3D output modes available. Now, all you need is a pair of 3D glasses to watch 3D movies sitting in front of your computer.
This media player has made optimizations to emulate the experience of watching a movie on a large TV screen with cinema-like audio-visuals. So, you can get the feel of watching a movie on a large screen smart TV. Plus, it also provides compatibility for remote controls for Windows Media Center.
There are so many things that you can do with just a single MKV player for Windows. This is our most favorite product on this list. You should definitely give DVDFab Player 6 a try. This MKV player is freely downloadable for Windows 7 and has a free trial version.
VLC Media Player
If you want a free media player, then you can check out VLC media player. It is free and open-source software that can play.MKV files (it can play videos of almost every format). You can play MKV files without installing any codec.
It supports almost all audio and video streams present in MKV files. It has a simplistic design and is available for all PC and mobile platforms. One thing we really like about VLC is the way we can switch between different audio and subtitle tracks present in the video using simple keyboard shortcuts. In addition to that, you can add plugins and themes to customize your player.
You can tweak the video settings to adjust the playback and audio quality. Plus, you can add filters to adjust the look of different clips. It is a simple video player with barely any advanced features, and most of them are complex. However, the simple features that it provides are more than enough if you just want to watch a movie or an episode of your favorite TV series. Plus, it is free and supported on most popular platforms.
You can download VLC Media Player for free in Windows 7 from their official site. It is also available on other Windows versions, Mac, Linux, and mobile platforms like Android, Windows Phone, and iOS.
Pros:
- Free and open source
- Watch MKV videos without downloading codecs
- Install custom plugins and themes
Cons:
- The advanced features like rotating videos are complex to use.
- Requires a steep learning curve
Windows Media Player
If you are on Windows, you may not even need to download a third-party media player since Microsoft provides us one for free with every single copy of the Windows operating system. Windows Media Player comes pre-installed with the OS. It can be used to play MKV videos. However, you will need to download MKV codecs for Windows Media Player to do so.
Since Windows Media Player initially does not support MKV files, you will see an error message that says, “Windows Media Player cannot play the file.”
How to Play MKV on Windows Media Player
Step 1: Open Windows Media Player and go to the Tools menu. From there, go to Options and click on the Player Tab. Select the checkbox that says, “Download codecs automatically” and click on OK.
Note: If you cannot find the Tools menu anywhere, that means the menu bar is hidden. Click on Organize, go to Layout, and click on ‘Show menu bar’.
Step 2: If the previous step doesn’t work, you will have to download and install the codecs manually.
You can check out the following sites for codecs. Follow the instructions present on their site to successfully install a codec and play MKV on Windows Media Player.
· https://shark007.net/index.html
· http://www.MKVcodec.com/
Pros:
- It comes pre-installed with Windows
- Pretty simple user interface
Con:
- We need to install codecs first to watch MKV files
Wrapping Up
These are our choices for the best Windows MKV players. All of them have their perks. However, we recommend that you give DVDFab Player 6 a try because it will ensure that you get a premium experience when watching your favorite movies without downloading any additional stuff.