StarCodec 20190614

If you're trying to play a video or a song and you simply get an error relating to a missing codex, then you need to get out into the internet and download some codecs that support that video player. Or sometimes, it isn't as obvious. It could be anything from your video lagging or glitching out randomly, or something as subtle as the color grading being worse. In all these cases, codecs can help and there are few codec packs out there as complete as StarCodec.

What do codecs actually do? They are files that allow your computer to decode and decompress video or audio and vice versa. The type of file it compresses or decompresses to is different, and if it doesn't have the codec specific to a certain type of format, it won't be able to play that file. Codecs can also change the way a file compresses or decompresses, sometimes improving its quality after compression.

There's not too many pictures to take about StarCodec - it's mostly invisible and works automatically as your system will automatically access it. There are a variety of options you can choose during installation, like post processing and file associations. I personally chose default, but it's easy to change later. If you dive into the folder it installed to, you'll find multiple configuration tools.

I tested a variety of formats after installing StarCodec, like webm, MPG, AVI, and many more. It played them all with little trouble. If you need to install some codecs, then there are few packs as complete as StarCodec out there on the internet.