In most PCs, I can easily find various brands of media player installed, the list begins from Windows Media Player, to Real Player, to QuickTime Player, and even a number of video codecs.
But, do we really need all these junks? Personally I don't like to install Real Player. All I need is being able to play Real media files, and I don't really need all other additional features available.
My preferred solution is to install a universal media player, which supports all the common and popular media file formats. I don't want to care about which player plays which format, or which video requires which codec; I'll just rely on the universal media player will do.
The goodie that I'm referring to in this post, is nothing other than Storm Codec. Storm Codec enhances Windows Media Player, to support tons of media formats and codecs (DivX, XviD, 3ivx, MP4, FFGS, H264, AC3/DTS/LPCM, VP3/VP6, HDTV, Theora, TTL2, APE, FLAC, AAC, OGG/OGM, Matroska, MPC, Voxware, FLC, 3GP/AMR ...), including some that you have never heard of. It's simply comprehensive.
I've been using Storm Codec for years, and I can always play any video file without worrying what's the codec or player required. Needless to mention, I don't need to install anymore media player and codecs.
Currently, the latest version of Storm Codec downloadable from Softpedia is 6.11. If you can read Chinese, you may visit Storm Codec official website and download version 7.0.
If you're like me, who don't like to overload your PC with unnecessary junks, Storm Codec is a perfect choice.