{"id":31121,"date":"2025-03-12T18:15:38","date_gmt":"2025-03-13T02:15:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.leawo.com\/knowledge\/?p=31121"},"modified":"2025-03-12T18:21:54","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T02:21:54","slug":"how-to-play-dvd-with-windows-media-player-1426","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.leawo.com\/knowledge\/how-to-play-dvd-with-windows-media-player-1426.html","title":{"rendered":"Does Windows Media Player Play DVDs – How to Play DVD with Windows Media Player","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"

Windows Media Player is a built-in media player for users to listen to and watch multimedia content on Windows PCs. It is full-featured and serves as a DVD player software to play DVDs. However, some users often come across obstacles when they play DVD on Windows Media Player. It is definitely not an enjoyable experience. In this case, it is necessary to figure out the reason why you won\u2019t play DVD with Windows Media Player and fix the problem. Moreover, here come the effective instructions on how to play a DVD on Windows Player with easy steps and offer its best alternative.<\/p>\n

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  1. Easy Steps to Play DVD with Windows Media Player <\/a><\/li>\n
  2. Why Won\u2019t Windows Media Player Play DVDs? How to Fix? <\/a><\/li>\n
  3. Windows Media Player Not Available on Windows 11? Try the Best Alternative<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n

    Part 1: Easy Steps to Play DVD with Windows Media Player <\/strong><\/h2>\n

    As Windows Media Player is built in your computer running Windows, no additional installation is required. Playing DVD on Windows Media Player is quite easy especially when you are using Windows 7. Typically, your DVD will automatically start playing on Windows Media Player after it is inserted into the DVD drive. If it doesn\u2019t, you can follow the steps below.<\/p>\n

    How to Play DVD with Windows Media Player manually on Windows 7<\/h3>\n

    Step 1. Open Windows Media Player. <\/p>\n

    Step 2. Move to the navigation panel of the Player Library, click your DVD name to display the title or chapters on the DVD. <\/p>\n

    Step 3. You can choose the title or chapter name you prefer and click the \u201cplay\u201d button. The DVD should now play. <\/p>\n

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    How to Play a DVD on Windows Media Player in Windows 8\/10<\/h3>\n

    It is necessary to mention that Windows Media Player does not natively support playing DVDs on Windows 8\/10 like it used to in Windows 7 and all previous versions. If you are facing issues with the movie DVD playing with this built-in player, you will need a compatible DVD decoder. To put it simply, a DVD decoder is a media processing software that enables the reading of DVDs by Windows Media Player on Windows 8\/10.<\/p>\n

    You can follow the below method to play DVD with Windows Media Player on Windows 8\/10:<\/p>\n

    Step 1. Go to the \u201cStart\u201d menu, search for and open \u201cControl Panel\u201d. <\/p>\n

    Step 2. Select \u201cTroubleshooting\u201d. In the left panel, click \u201cView All\u201d to show all problems and then choose \u201cWindows Media Player\u201d. <\/p>\n

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    Step 3. A dialogue will then pop up to ask you to install the Windows Media Player DVD decoder. You need to follow the directions to install it.<\/p>\n

    Step 4. After installation, insert the DVD you want to watch. Generally, the DVD should automatically start to play. If it doesn\u2019t, open Windows Media Player and click the name of the DVD in the Player Library panel to manually play the title or chapter you\u2019d like to watch. <\/p>\n

    Part 2: How to Download Nollywood Movies to Keep Forever with Moyea All-In-One Downloader<\/h2>\n

    It is obviously easy to play DVD on Windows Media Player, but you may still face challenges when the player won\u2019t play the DVD at all. There are several reasons why this problem happens. Just read on and find out how to fix it in efficient ways.<\/p>\n

    Reason 1: Some Windows versions don\u2019t support playing DVD on Windows Media Player<\/h3>\n

    As previously mentioned, Windows doesn\u2019t include built-in support to play DVDs since Windows 8. If you are using Windows 8 or 10, you cannot directly play DVD on Windows Media Player anymore. With the rapid growth of streaming services and digital downloads, physical media formats like DVDs have seen a steady decline in popularity. Citing the declining relevance of physical media and cost-saving priorities, Microsoft phased out native DVD playback support in newer Windows versions.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

    Solution 1: How to fix it and play DVD on Windows 8\/10 \u00a0<\/h3>\n

    Though Microsoft discontinued integrated DVD playback capabilities in modern Windows editions since Windows 8, there are solutions offered if you still want to play a DVD. <\/p>\n

    For Windows 8 users, you have to purchase either of these two add-ons, Windows 8 Media Center Pack or the Windows 8 Pro Pack for DVD playback. They both allow you to play DVDs through Windows Media Center, an all-in-one multimedia app. The app has rich functionality including DVD player, recording, playing TV, etc.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

    For Windows 10 users, purchasing and installing the official Windows DVD Player app from the Microsoft Store remains a straightforward solution for basic DVD playback, though it requires a one-time fee. <\/p>\n

    Reason 3: Your DVD format isn\u2019t supported by Windows Media Player \u00a0<\/h3>\n

    If you cannot play DVD on Windows Media Player, it may be caused by the format incompatibility. As you know, Windows Media Player supports multimedia file types like WMV, AVI, WMA, MP3 and more. If your DVD format is not supported by the player, your DVD may not play. To fix the issue, you can just use a third-party media player that supports the DVD format like Leawo Blu-ray Player, a free all-inclusive media player that supports Blu-ray, 4K Blu-ray<\/a>, UHD, DVD, audio and video formats. <\/p>\n

    Part 3: Windows Media Player Not Available on Windows 11? Try the Best Alternative Windows Media Player <\/strong><\/h2>\n

    Some users may have installed Windows 11 and found that the classic Windows Media Player is hidden by default. On the latest OS, Microsoft replaced Windows Media Player with the Media Player App for music and video playback. If you are asking \u201cdoes Windows Media Player play DVDs on Windows 11, the answer is definitely no. Neither Windows Media Player nor the new Media Player app supports DVD playback in Windows 11. To play DVD smoothly in an enjoyable way, you need to discover the best player alternative\u2014Leawo Blu-ray Player. <\/p>\n