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Guides for Codecs and Media Players

257 guides on codecs, media players and the tools around them.

2 new in the last 7 days

Aug 29, 202695,748 views7 min read

Audio Codecs Explained: Music, Speech and Lossless Formats

Why music codecs and speech codecs are built differently, which audio format to pick for what, and how to fix an old clip that plays with no sound.

Aug 29, 202620,444 views7 min read

How to Enable Hardware Acceleration in MPC-HC (and Check It Worked)

Current MPC-HC configures GPU decoding on its own, so this covers how to confirm it is running and how to set it manually when it is not.

Aug 29, 20262,370 views6 min read

Does AV1 Drain Your Battery? Hardware vs Software Decoding

Why AV1 flattens the battery on some laptops and not others, how to check which side your hardware is on, and the fixes that actually work.

Aug 28, 202625,435 views5 min read

How to Get AV1 Codec on Android

Why there is no AV1 codec to download on Android, which players already decode it, and how to tell whether your phone does it in hardware.

Aug 28, 202628,240 views6 min read

How to View JPEG XL (.jxl) Files on Windows - 4 Ways That Work

Windows does not open .jxl files out of the box, and the free Microsoft extension only installs on recent builds - here are four routes that work on any version.

Aug 28, 202626,266 views8 min read

Master AV1 Encoding: rav1e + FFmpeg Complete Guide

Copy-paste FFmpeg and rav1e commands for AV1 encoding, covering 10-bit, tiling, film grain synthesis and which quantizer to pick.

Aug 28, 202628,207 views6 min read

The Future of Video Codecs: HEVC, AV1, VVC and AI Compression

An honest look at where video codecs are going, with the marketing numbers stripped out and only the claims that survive checking left in.

Aug 28, 20261,185 views7 min read

Why Your Images Look Faded in Microsoft Photos (and How to Fix It)

Why the same image looks washed out in Microsoft Photos but perfectly normal in Paint, and how to fix the colour profile behind it.

Aug 28, 202657,839 views7 min read

How to Enable AV1 on YouTube (and Whether You Should)

How to switch YouTube to the AV1 codec, verify it is really being used, and check whether your machine can decode AV1 without stuttering.

Aug 28, 202624,851 views7 min read

Android Version History: Every Release from 1.0 to 17 Explained

Every Android release from 1.0 to 17 with dates and features, plus which versions still get security patches and which to avoid buying in 2026.

Aug 27, 20269,289 views9 min read

How to Install LAME MP3 Encoder 4.0 on Windows 11 and 10

A plain-English walkthrough of every way to get LAME MP3 Encoder 4.0 running on Windows, from the command line to Audacity to no install at all.

Aug 27, 20261 comment32,246 views5 min read

How to Blur or Remove Backgrounds with Hypic on Android

A screenshot walkthrough of Hypic's Mosaic and Cutout tools, the two free ways to blur a background or remove it entirely on Android.

Aug 27, 202614,500 views5 min read

What Is Media Foundation? Why Your Windows Videos Will Not Play

What Media Foundation is, how it differs from DirectShow, and why Windows ships without the codecs it needs to play modern video.

Aug 27, 20269,723 views7 min read

What Is PowerToys? Every Utility, and the Ones Worth Enabling

A tour of every Microsoft PowerToys utility for Windows 10 and 11, which four to enable first, and the ones that earn their place in a media workflow.

Aug 26, 20262 comments155,190 views5 min read

How to View AVIF Files on Windows - 3 Fixes That Work

Three free ways to open AVIF images on Windows, from a browser workaround to the AV1 Video Extension, plus a fix for the IrfanView AVIF.DLL plugin error.

Aug 26, 20269,909 views5 min read

Why Blackmagic Gives Away DaVinci Resolve for Free

The real reason DaVinci Resolve costs nothing, what Blackmagic gets back through hardware and Studio licences, and where the free version actually stops.

Aug 26, 20269,744 views7 min read

How to Access Your iPhone File System on PC With 3uTools

A step-by-step guide to browsing and exporting iPhone folders from a Windows PC with free 3uTools, and opening the HEIC and HEVC files that come across.