When I encountered a video file that wouldn’t play, I was determined to find a solution. I tried various methods, and one trick that often worked for me was changing the file extension. It may sound strange, but sometimes the file extension can cause compatibility issues with certain media players.
To begin, I opened Windows Explorer on my computer. Then, I went to the “File” menu and selected “Options.” In the Options window, I clicked on the “View” tab. Here, I looked for the option that said “Hide extensions for known file types.” This option was checked by default, but I cleared the checkmark to make file extensions visible.
After applying the changes by clicking “Apply” and then “OK,” I returned to the file I was trying to open. I noticed that it now displayed its file extension at the end of the filename. This was important because it allowed me to edit the file extension and potentially fix any compatibility issues.
Next, I right-clicked on the video file and selected “Rename” from the context menu. I then changed the file extension to a different one that I knew should be compatible with the media player I was using. For example, if the file had a “.mp4” extension, I tried changing it to “.avi” or “.mkv.”
Once I changed the file extension, I double-clicked on the file to see if it would play. In some cases, the media player recognized the new file extension and successfully played the video. However, there were times when the video still wouldn’t play even with the modified file extension.
If changing the file extension didn’t work, it could indicate that the video file itself is corrupted or encoded in a format that is not supported by any media player installed on my computer. In such cases, I had to resort to other troubleshooting methods like repairing the video file or converting it to a different format using specialized software.
When faced with a video file that won’t open, try changing the file extension by making it visible in Windows Explorer and then modifying it to a different compatible format. While this method doesn’t guarantee success in every case, it’s worth a try before exploring other troubleshooting options.