And jeez what happened to it anyways? It actually used to be pretty decent back in the 98/XP/7 days :(

  • @[email protected]English
    149•5 days ago

    “Oh no, I can’t play this modern video file using a codec that’s literally been around for more than 10 years unless you pay me $0.99 for a codec pack…”

    Every single time I forget to change it and I want to play an h265 file from my phone.

    • @[email protected]English
      87•5 days ago

      Enshitification is what is happening, the original windows video player was way more capable than this modern garbage.

      • @shneancy
        18•5 days ago

        sometimes i forget the “new and improved” version exists, i switched my default to the old media player years ago

      • GreatAlbatrossEnglish
        10•4 days ago

        It’s also partly the patent holders for H.265.

        H.264 had a license fee, but it wasn’t ridiculous. It was jacked up for 265, to the point that a lot of software houses no longer bundle the 265 decoder license.

        It annoys me too: Security cameras often use turnkey H.265 encoding packages rather than more open codecs, which makes dealing with the files using FOSS more of a pita.

      • @Serinus
        6•5 days ago

        I think this part actually isn’t enshittification. I think this is being legally cautious, as you probably should be when you’re Microsoft.