Active6 years, 2 months ago
Is there a good plugin or codec that allows Media Player/Media Center on Windows 7 to play Apple Lossless (ALAC) encoded files? As the files are shared between multiple iTunes installations and one Media Center I don't want to transcode them. Bonus points for proper meta data parsing. :)
Windows Media Codec Pack is the freeware codec pack for all version of Windows. It allows for 99% video play and supports all popular audio and video formats, including DVDs, Xvid, MP4, Real,.
Free m4a codec download. Multimedia tools downloads - dBpoweramp m4a Codec by Illustrate and many more programs are available for instant and free download. The Windows 7 Codec Pack supports almost every compression and file type used by modern video and audio files. The package is easy to install, while also offering advanced settings to the high end user. Windows 7 codec pack m4a free download - Windows Media Codec Pack, Windows 10 Codec Pack, Windows Essentials Media Codec Pack, and many more programs. Jul 23, 2009 Windows 7 support for AAC / m4a files? (gapless playback). Windows 7 Media https. Vista does not like these files at all: I had to install a codec to get them to play at all, and then another plugin to get the ID3 tags to be read properly, and still it doesn't read the embedded album artwork. My main complaint is that I can't get.
deceze
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8 Answers
Install K-Lite Codec pack.
Supported formats include:
- AVI (.avi .divx)
- MPEG-PS (.mpeg .mpg .m1v .m2v .mp2v.mpv2 .evo .m2p)
- MPEG-TS (.ts .m2ts .m2t .mts)
- Matroska (.mkv .mka)
- MP4 (.mp4 .m4v .mp4v .mpv4 .k3g .mqv)
- Ogg (.ogm .ogv .ogg .oga)
- DVD/VCD/XVCD (.ifo .vob .dat)
- Flash Video (.flv)
- QuickTime (.mov .hdmov)
- RealMedia (.rm .rmvb .ra .ram)
- 3GP (.3gp .3gpp .3g2 .3gp2)
- MP3 (.mp3)
- MPEG-4 Audio (.m4a .aac)
- FLAC (.flac)
- Musepack (.mpc .mpp)
- WavPack (.wv)
- OptimFrog (.ofr .ofs)
- Monkey's Audio (.ape .apl)
- True Audio (.tta)
- Apple Lossless Audio Codec (.alac)
- AC3/DTS (.ac3 .dts)
- AMR (.amr)
- AMV (.amv)
- (.xm .s3m .it .umx)
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The advice on the answers.microsoft.com page:
![Error](http://ifsscan-odemo-2.cloudapp.net/ifsdoc/f1doc/Foundation1/020_installation/400_installation_options/130_add-on_cmp/bacli/030_ba_execution_server/images/baes_dcom_4.png)
Basically they say install the DC-Bass Source Filter and you should be able to play the files.
Unfortunately, if the files have an 'm4a' extension they appear in the Other Media section rather than in Music.
The suggested 'solution' is to rename your files to 'mp4' but when I do that the files no longer play.
'alac' extension files don't appear at all.
Not really a solution, but hopefully information that might help the community get one step closer.
Oh, and Microsoft, if you're reading this, Apple Lossless is now open source, so I'm sure there's some way you can bundle it into windows media player.
aboy021aboy021
As far as I am aware all the solutions for playing Apple Lossless in WMP12 still require a DirectShow filter. The most common choice being the DC Bass Source one written by Milenko Mitrovic and that being the result of my prior research and suggestion to Milenko. This worked fine for Windows XP and Vista but for Windows 7 and later there are a couple of extra issues to accommodate.
Firstly with WMP12 Microsoft introduced Media Foundation as a replacement for Directshow. Media Foundation codecs take precedence over DirectShow filters and you therefore need to disable any potentially conflicting Media Foundation codec. As WMP12 includes support for AAC files with the .m4a file extension which is the same file extension as for Apple Lossless you therefore need to disable the built-in AAC support. I found the easiest way was to install the Shark007 Windows7 Codec pack which not only includes support for playing Apple Lossless files but also has a tick box for disabling the built-in Media Foundation codec.
Secondly, Microsoft willfully chose to put Apple Lossless files in the 'other' section of WMP rather than the music section, even though they have the same file extension, same file format, and same tag format as AAC files. You can consider this to be like WMA vs. WMA Lossless.
Note: WMP12 has besides normally having built-in support for playing AAC files, also has built-in support for reading MPEG4 'atoms' i.e. tags. It even supports reading embedded Album Artwork from .m4a files - both AAC and Apple Lossless.
This problem with Apple Lossless files being (incorrectly) placed in the other section can be fixed by installing the WMPTagPlus plugin. Thanks go to Tim De Beats for solving this problem. In this case the WMPTagPlus plugin merely tricks WMP12 in to thinking Apple Lossless files are AAC files, it does not need to do the tag reading as WMP12 can already read these tags.
![Windows Windows](/uploads/1/2/4/8/124880433/786036651.png)
So the full solution is to install the Shark007 codec pack, and the WMPTagPlus plugin. These can be downloaded from the following links.
Note: The above solution lets WMP12 recognise Apple Lossless and AAC files as music files, and lets it read the meta-tags in those files including album artwork. As a result Microsoft Media Center can also play those files. Unfortunately as this solution is based on a Directshow filter, the files cannot be streamed from WMP12 as this only works with a Media Foundation codec.
John LockwoodJohn Lockwood
Codecs packs can be evil, but i prefer to install simply the ones i need
I use free-codecs.com
http://www.free-codecs.com/download/3ivx.htm - This will allow .m4a playback
http://www.free-codecs.com/download/DirectShow_FilterPack.htm - This will allow .ALAC playback
admintechadmintechhttp://www.free-codecs.com/download/DirectShow_FilterPack.htm - This will allow .ALAC playback
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@deceze : This will play Apple Lossless in WMP12 (or 7MC), but it involves a few changes
- Uninstall any codec packs (K-Lite, Shark) etc that you don't really need.
- Make sure Quicktime is installed. While iTunes will not be used to play these files, we need to install a directshow filter that will use the quicktime codec to play back Apple Lossless files. (Don't worry, this will not be a major resource hog)
- Install the quicktime directshow filter from http://www.riverpast.com/en/prod/quicktime/. Black butler episode 1 gogoanime.
- Rename the .m4a file to .mp4 and play in WMP12. This will be added to the library. You can use a batch renamer to rename all the files.
This solution will still work when you are syncing iPod/iPhone using iTunes.
Do tell us if this works for you.
Kiran
The QuickTime directshow filter from Riverpast should work.
It does not work with ALAC (apple lossless music)
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Jo PerryJo Perry
Winamp natively supports .m4a ALAC playback as of v5.64.
reflexivreflexiv89511 gold badge99 silver badges1212 bronze badges
Go for http://www.foobar2000.org/ !
With the right plugins and individualization it'll be far better than the clunky, stupid Media Center/Player.
Examples how it can look: http://customize.org/foobar
Install Codec Windows 7
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