FLV files in Windows Media Player

The latest versions of Windows Media Player will play Flash FLV files without any problem — sometimes you just need to tell it what to do first.

Local Files

On your local hard drive, all you need is the latest version of Windows Media Player. When you open an FLV file the player may give you a warning message saying that it doesn't recognise the file extension — click OK and play the file anyway.

On a Web Page

To use Windows Media Player to stream FLV files on a web page, you first need to set the mime type for FLV files. Once you've done that, you can use the normal embedding code to place the player on a page. The example below shows the basic code — for more detailed instructions see Embedding Windows Media Player.

Note: In most cases Windows Media Player is not the ideal choice for Flash video files. Although it plays them perfectly well, you can have much more control if you use a Flash-based player, for example, our free Flash Video Player.

See also:

• Flash video tutorials
• Setting up a Flash video player