
This article is of interest to the following WikiProjects: For the contribution history and old versions of the redirected article, please see its history for its talk page, see here. The original page is now a redirect to this page. Its contents were merged into Windows Media Player. The discussion was closed on 10 March 2013 with a consensus to merge. Media Player (Microsoft) was nominated for deletion. Its contents were merged into Windows Media Player on 24 October 2011. The discussion was closed on 21 October 2011 with a consensus to merge. Windows RT does not run Windows Media Player, but comes with Xbox Video and Xbox Music.Windows Media Player 12 was nominated for deletion. In January 2023, Microsoft began backporting the latter to Windows 10. The latter was renamed Groove Music in Windows 10, and then finally Media Player in Windows 11. Windows 8 bundled Windows Media Player 12 along two other media player apps, namely Xbox Video and Xbox Music. Windows Media Player 12 was released on October 22, 2009, along with Windows 7 and has not been made available for previous versions of Windows nor has it been updated ever since. The player is also able to utilize a digital rights management service in the form of Windows Media DRM. The default file formats are Windows Media Video (WMV), Windows Media Audio (WMA), and Advanced Systems Format (ASF), and its own XML based playlist format called Windows Playlist ( WPL). It was made available for Windows XP and is included in Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. Windows Media Player 11 is the last out-of-band version of Media Player.

These versions of Windows also included several other media playback apps, namely ActiveMovie Control, CD Player, DVD Player, Windows Media Center, and Microsoft Movies & TV. For example Media Player versions 5.1, 6.4, and 8 were all included in Windows XP. Windows Media Player is a unique component, in that since 1999, each version of Windows came with two or more versions of it side-by-side. In addition to being a media player, the app has the ability to rip audio file from and copy to compact discs, burn recordable discs in Audio CD format or as data discs with playlists such as an MP3 CD, synchronize content with a digital audio player (MP3 player) or other mobile devices, and enable users to purchase or rent music from a number of online music stores.

Groove Music, Microsoft Movies & TV, Media Player (2022)
