How to change the default media player in Windows

Posted on May 18, 2009 at 5:15 am

So I have Windows XP and one thing that I don’t like is the fact that Windows Media Player is setup as the default media player for my music, videos, etc. I prefer to use other media players like GOM player or VLC media player to play my media.

VLC Media Player has many of the most popular codecs already built into the program, so you can watch practically any video file without having to download a codec pack. You can easily change the default media player in Windows XP by following these steps:

Step 1: Go to the folder where the file you want to play is stored. Now right-click on the file and choose Open With and then click on Choose Program.

Step 2: Now select the program you want to use to open the media file and make sure to check the Always use the selected program to open this kind of file box.

Windows also has a feature under the Add/Remove Programs dialog that lets you set program access and defaults.

You can normally set the default web browser here to something other than Internet Explorer, but it does not give you the option to choose another media player, like VLC or GOM. It lets you choose the “current media player”, but does not let you change the default media player for all files types.

You basically have to manually right-click on each file type and choose to open that file type with another media player. Annoying, but the only thing that can be done. If you know of any other way, post a comment! Enjoy!

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Comments

2 Responses to “How to change the default media player in Windows”

onel_reyes said on : June 3rd, 2009 at 1:16 am

If you want to make VLC player as a default media player or default music player, follow these simple steps.

1. right-click any music file or video.

2. Click properties

3. Click Change and Choose the program VLC, Ok and Apply. There you go all of your music files are now automatically opened by VLC .

Waldo said on : July 22nd, 2009 at 10:41 pm

I am trying to watch videos online with Gom player using google chrome on an xp. When I right click, there is no option to open with in google chrome;however, there is in firefox.