Playback of recordings stored on a USB

Try Media Player app, which is the default media application built into Windows 11 and available for Windows 10 through the Microsoft Store. It features a clean, updated interface designed to handle modern file formats seamlessly. If you are using Windows 10 and do not see it, you can easily download it for free from the Microsoft Store by searching for Media Player by Microsoft Corporation.

An alternative built-in option is the Movies and TV app, which is a lightweight player included with Windows that is excellent for quick playback. You can use it by right-clicking your recording file on the USB drive, selecting the Open with option, and choosing Movies and TV from the list. If your recordings are in an older format, Windows also still includes the classic Windows Media Player Legacy, which you can find by typing that exact name into your Windows search bar.

If you encounter any issues where the Microsoft programs refuse to open the file, it is often due to a missing video codec rather than a glitch in the software itself. Television recordings or external capture devices frequently use specific formats that Windows does not support right out of the box. You can usually resolve this by opening the Microsoft Store and downloading the official HEVC Video Extensions or MPEG-2 Video Extension to grant your system full playback capabilities.

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hth

Marcin