Windows Media Player

Windows Media Player (WMP, officially known as Windows Media Player Legacy since Windows 11 to distinguish it from its successor) is a media player and media library organization software from Microsoft that plays audio and video in Microsoft Windows. It has been a component of the Windows operating system, also including Pocket PC and Windows Mobile. Microsoft also released editions of Windows Media Player for classic Mac OS, Mac OS X, and Solaris, but has since discontinued them. In addition to being a media player, Windows Media Player can rip audio files from compact discs, burn Audio CDs or MP3 CDs, synchronize content with a digital audio player or mobile devices, and stream media over the local network. It also has support for many skins. Originally, it could connect to a number of digital music stores, allowing its users to purchase digital music. The default file formats are Windows Media Video (WMV), Windows Media Audio (WMA), and Advanced Systems Format (ASF), and its own XML based playlist format called Windows Playlist (WPL). The player is also able to utilize a digital rights management service in the form of Windows Media DRM. Windows Media Player is a unique component in the sense that each version of Windows came with two or more versions of it side-by-side since 1999. For example, Media Player versions 5.1, 6.4, and 8 were all included in Windows XP. Each version of Windows may bundle several other media playback apps, namely ActiveMovie Control, CD Player, DVD Player, Windows Media Center, and Microsoft Movies & TV. Windows Media Player 11 is the last out-of-band version of Media Player. It was made available for Windows XP and is included in Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. Version 12 was released in 2009 along with Windows 7 and has not...