# Adding AAC file formats to Windows Media Player?



## alep85

Hi everyone,
I have iTunes on my computer, and recently converted all of my MP3's to 128 kbps Apple AAC to conserve space on my laptop while keeping the audio quality intact.  Downsampling to MP3 128 kbps on all files would have resulted in worse audio quality, which is not what I wanted.  Anyways, I installed an AAC decoder (I believe it was 3vix or AC3) on my computer, and I can go into Windows Media Player 9 Series, go to Open..., change the file type to the Any File (*.*), and open any of the .m4a files and they play great.  However, I do not like doing this everytime, it is very time-consuming, and WMP tells me the file is not supported but would I like to play it anyways, and then it works fine.  Is there anyway I can edit the registry, edit WMP files, or anything to add .M4A files to the list of openable files so WMP will see them and open them without having to change to Any File (*.*) everytime?  An OGG plug-in I downloaded did this automatically and added OGG files to the list of openable files, but I do not know how to do this on my own!  I am very advanced and can do most anything to make it work, so please let me know ASAP, thanks!


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## Praetor

Have a look at http://www.audiocoding.com/wiki/index.php?page=Software+Audio+Players+for+Windows

The 3ivx thingy should be sufficient for playback however to "associate" the file with WMP, just double click on the MP4 file and it will popup a box asking you want to do. Select the option to "Select from a list" ... and then associate it with Windows Media Player


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## alep85

No, not just being able to open them in the Windows file browser, but having Windows Media Player recognize it as a VALID, PLAYABLE format.  You can still open it through Windows file browser with your method, but opening a file in Windows Media Player requires that you change the filetype to Any File when opening it, and WMP asks you that the file format is not recognized but do you want to try and play it anyway.  Also, you cannot add AAC's to your Media Library by Default because WMP does not recognize this as an audio format.  Anyways, I did research and found the following links at MSDN, and by doing this, you can allow WMP to not only open it without changing the filetype to Any File (*.*), but I also found a way to make it to where AAC's can be added to the Media Library.  Anyone who is interested in it can check the following links.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/d...mmp_sdk/filenameextensionregistrysettings.asp

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/d..._sdk/specifyingmedialibraryclassification.asp

This is a VERY helpful resource to anyone who has a codec installed for a non Microsoft supported format, and would like to allow WMP to fully support it!  Hope this helps everyone!


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## Praetor

> No, not just being able to open them in the Windows file browser, but having Windows Media Player recognize it as a VALID, PLAYABLE format. You can still open it through Windows file browser with your method, but opening a file in Windows Media Player requires that you change the filetype to Any File when opening it, and WMP asks you that the file format is not recognized but do you want to try and play it anyway


Im not an audiophille so when I gave my advice I  tested it out ... found me an AAC sample on the net downloaded it -- it wouldnt even play ... took me awhile to figure out what DS Filter I needed to install. Then when it was "force playable" in WMP, all you need to do is associate M4A with Windows Media Player and when you double click on it... WMP will open it and play it. I tried it before I posted which is why it took me so long to post.




> Also, you cannot add AAC's to your Media Library by Default because WMP does not recognize this as an audio format.


Dunno about libraries... dont use them.


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## nicknicknick

*How to do it*



			
				alep85 said:
			
		

> No, not just being able to open them in the Windows file browser, but having Windows Media Player recognize it as a VALID, PLAYABLE format.  You can still open it through Windows file browser with your method, but opening a file in Windows Media Player requires that you change the filetype to Any File when opening it, and WMP asks you that the file format is not recognized but do you want to try and play it anyway.


I know what you mean and I know how to get it working. You will have to edit a couple of things in the registry so you must be comfortable with editing this, changing registry values carelessly can muck up your system. Anyway here goes.

Start regedit by choosing run from the start menu and typing regedit. On the tree view on the left you'll need to descend to this key

My Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\Player\Extensions\Types

and click on it, then on the right you'll get a list of values representing the supported extensions of the different data types. Double click on the value "1" (the one for Audio files) and add whatever extensions you want, such as ;*.m4a;*.aac, so it should something like

*.wav;*.snd;*.au;*.aif;*.aifc;*.aiff;*.wma;*.mp3;*.m4a

Then if you look up from Types there's a Descriptions key, which holds the text you see in the dropdown menu. You can change the value in there to show the extra extensions.

Hope that helps!

Nick H


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## nicknicknick

PS Doesn't seem to let you add the new files to the media library, not in version 8 at least (though you can add a .m3u playlist containing them). WMP9 might be different, try it.


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## Praetor

> PS Doesn't seem to let you add the new files to the media library, not in version 8 at least (though you can add a .m3u playlist containing them).


That's confirmed: WMP8 doesnt allow you to do that (I also use WMP8 as i dont like it to take ten thousand years to load ). I didnt think of the M3U tho


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## Christopher

Thread is a bit old, but I came accross it while searching Google 

http://www.free-codecs.com/download/3ivx.htm
Download that and do the Regedit posted by nicknicknick and it should be fine -- it is for me


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## Praetor

Heehee i think i stumbled across that one too when i was looking for a solution here


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## Idn

*Brilliant...but wait, what's this, oh no!*



			
				alep85 said:
			
		

> ....Anyways, I did research and found the following links at MSDN, and by doing this, you can allow WMP to not only open it without changing the filetype to Any File (*.*), but I also found a way to make it to where AAC's can be added to the Media Library.  Anyone who is interested in it can check the following links.
> 
> http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/d...mmp_sdk/filenameextensionregistrysettings.asp
> 
> http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/d..._sdk/specifyingmedialibraryclassification.asp
> 
> This is a VERY helpful resource to anyone who has a codec installed for a non Microsoft supported format, and would like to allow WMP to fully support it!  Hope this helps everyone!


alep85, I've spent the last 3 hours searching google links for EXACTLY the same problem and then found your solution above. The only problem is that the links to the msdn library are no longer valid!   It seems that Microsoft in their wisdom have moved them. I tried searching for the pages in the msdn search index but to no avail. Can you let me know details of the solution or do you  have up-to-date urls for these pages? Many thanks in advance.


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