Ultimate Guide: Resolving VLC's Inability to Play MKV Movies Effortlessly

Ultimate Guide: Resolving VLC’s Inability to Play MKV Movies Effortlessly

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How to Solve VLC Not Playing MKV Problem

How to play MKV file smoothly? Take it easy, learn how to solve MKV files not playing in VLC below.

By Candice Liu ｜Last updated on Jan 8, 2024

VLC is an excellent media player but I just get a VLC not playing MKV issue. When I play MKV on VLC, problems like VLC MKV grey screen, skipping keep popping out. Can VLC play MKV? How to successfully play MKV in VLC? Any ideas?

Does VLC play MKV files? Recently I downloaded some MKV files and tried to play but it seems that VLC won’t play MKV anymore since it just loads the file forever… I’ve already tried rebooting my computer, deleting the preferences and reinstalling VLC but I’m keeping receiving VLC stuttering and freezing problem when playing MKV HD files. Anyone who can help with this?

VLC media player is a widely-used player that plays various video and audio formats. However, when you visit a forum, you can see users seeking for solutions to how to fix VLC not playing MKV files. While claiming to support MKV on its official site, we find, much to our regret that VLC won’t play MKV. For example, when importing MKV media contents to VLC, we will experience problems like: VLC stuttering, skipping or freezing when playing 1080P HD MKV; MKV choppy playback or MKV grey screen; VLC just loads MKV forever…

Tricks to Solve VLC Won’t Play MKV Problem

The above method is considered as the best solution to fix MKV files not playing in VLC problem, however, there are also some other tricks that users can try to get rid of VLC stuttering, skipping when playing HD videos. Below we gather the most feasible solutions to help users play MKV on VLC without getting errors. Before you try these soutions, make sure:
* You are using the latest version of VLC media player .
* The MKV video files you’d like to play are not corrupted. Try other players installed on your computer to check if the source MKV media files are damaged.

1. Seek for A VLC Alternative

Rather than asking “Does VLC play MKV?”, “How can I import MKV to VLC?”, “How to stop VLC freezing”, why not switch to another media player as so many good players are available out there. Among those you can try, an all-around free MKV player named 5KPlayer is definitely worth a shot. It intelligently integrates free (MKV) HD video player, music player, AirPlay media streamer into one.

2. Change the Parameters or Disable Hardware Decoding

For users who prefer to stick with VLC and do not want to convert MKV to VLC supported formats, they are left with no choice but to tweak some settings with VLC itself or disable the hardware decoding. You may try this way but it does not always work out and you may get confused if setting stuff is totally new to you.

3. Install MKV Codec for VLC

When loading MKV files to VLC on Mac/ Windows, it reports error message “unidentified codec: VLC could not identify the audio or video codec.” This is because MKV is a container format that may contain the media player unsupported video or audio codec. To solve VLC not playing MKV problem caused by unaccepted media format, you can install MKV codec pack or convert MKV to the best media format for VLC player using MKV video converter .

Tags: Play Video VLC Won’t Play MKV

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Candice Liu

Candice’s particularly skilled in writing and sharing video-related contents. Her guides cover from deep-seated video/audio parameters, to media entertainment on different platforms. She also enjoys shooting and processing videos by herself for a more reliable basis of informative info with her articles, which are never at the expense of eliminating an entertaining read.

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