I recorded several videos at a concert, but my phone ran out of storage, so I transferred the files to my laptop over USB. The transfer seemed to work, but whenever I try to play one, my computer says the file format isn't supported. The videos still play normally on my phone, and I'm worried about losing them. How can I get them working on my laptop?
2 Answers
Your laptop may be missing the codec needed for the format your phone used to record the videos. Some phones save videos as HEVC/H.265, which certain default media players can’t play without an additional extension. You can check the file type by right-clicking the video, choosing Properties, and looking at the file extension or type.
Since the videos play on your phone, the files are probably fine. Try opening them with VLC Media Player on your computer. It supports many formats and codecs that the built-in player may not handle, and you can download it from the official VLC website or your computer’s app store.
They do play on my phone! Is VLC something I need to download separately, such as through the Microsoft Store?
So I may need to install an additional video extension? I wasn’t sure how to check the format, but I’ll look at the file properties.