mp4?

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

My college's website has something I really want to hear/see/whatever. I downloaded it and it's in MP4 format. I can't get any of the programs on my computer to run it. What do I do?

[emeleel]

I don't know how easy it is to get this up and running, but this is a free, open-source player that will play MP4s:

MPlayer - The Movie Player

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

I tried downloading something free yesterday and it didn't work , so I want to know what people have had success with before I download anything else.

[amykhar]

(Executive Summary: You can download the right codecs and then use Windows Media Player to play these files.)

From: Information about the Multimedia file types that Windows Media Player supports




MPEG-4 (.mp4)

MPEG-4 is an International Standards Organization (ISO) specification that covers many aspects of multimedia presentation including compression, authoring and delivery. Although video compression and file container definition are two separate and independent entities of the MPEG-4 specification, many people incorrectly believe that the two are interchangeable. You can implement only portions of the MPEG-4 specification and remain compliant with the standard.

The MPEG-4 file format, as defined by the MPEG-4 specification, contains MPEG-4 encoded video and Advanced Audio Coding (AAC)-encoded audio content. It typically uses the .mp4 extension. Windows Media Player does not support the playback of the .mp4 file format. You can play back .mp4 media files in Windows Media Player when you install DirectShow-compatible MPEG-4 decoder packs. DirectShow-compatible MPEG-4 decoder packs include the Ligos LSX-MPEG Player and the EnvivioTV.

For more information about the Ligos LSX-MPEG Player, visit the following Ligos Web site:http://www.ligos.com (Ligos Corporation)
For more information about EnvivioTV , visit the following Envivio Web site:http://www.envivio.com/products/ (Envivio, Inc. - Products)
Microsoft has chosen to implement the video compression portion of the MPEG-4 standard. Microsoft has currently produced the following MPEG-4-based video codecs:

•	Microsoft MPEG-4 v1
•	Microsoft MPEG-4 v2
•	Microsoft MPEG-4 v3
•	ISO MPEG-4 v1

MPEG-4 video content can be encoded and stored in an .asf file container by using Windows Media Tools and Windows Media Encoder. You can then play these files in Windows Media Player. For more information about Microsoft and MPEG-4 support, visit the following Microsoft Web site:Codec Installation Packages for IT Professionals