i started using bitTorrent today and downloaded one of my favorite shows CSI. when i finished downloading i realize i can not play it in windows media because it said “error downloading codec”. i tried a few other softwares, quick time, powerdvd etc but none of them worked. so i searched and i found a lot about codec on this site. from my class i know codec is used to decompress multimedia files. without the correct codec, your software can not play your media files correctly.
first is of course to find out what codec you are missing. windows media doesn’t really tell you anything about that. you need a free program called videotoolbox to find that out. after i downloaded that and looked up my file’s detailed information, i found i’m missing the XviD MPEG4 codec. videotoolbox even takes you directly to somewhere you can download the codec. i downloaded my codec from here. after i installed it, my problem is completely fixed.
my videotoolbox screenshot
since my problem is solved, i did not go on. but if you have more problems, you can find more information on moviecodec.com
Pure-Essence.Net 
Wow, thanks for that post! I had the same problem and I didn’t know it. I’ve been trying to play certain media files on my computer and no program could play them.
wow! that’s cool. 😀 i’ve never had that problem though. but thanks for the tip ^_^
hey thanks dodo! i’ve had that problems many time but didn’t know what because i have no idea what codec i’m missing. my husband always wants to know why he couldn’t play some media files. thanks alot for that. 😀
thats a very helpfull program you posted here 🙂 thanks dodo
I saw the CSI game in the shops the other day, I *HAVE* to have it. Lol.
Ah that’s exactly what i’ve been looking for 🙂
you could also try videolan which is the best player i’ve used. I’ve tried a lot of video player and videolan is far the best. Moreover, videolan use it’s own codec to read video, so you never (nearly) need to download anything else