WebM is a free media file format designed for the web. Most web browsers today, including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge, and more, support WebM media. This means that you can play WebM media in your web browser without installing any plugins or extensions. In this article, we will talk about how to play WebM files on a Windows PC without third-party software. However, if you want to play WebM files in a media player, you can also do so since most media players support the WebM media file format. In this article, we have also mentioned some free media players that support WebM files.

How can I play WebM files without any software?

Many web browsers support the WebM media file format. So if you don’t want to install any software to play WebM files, you can play them on your web browser like Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge, etc.

How to Play WebM Files on Windows PC Without Third Party Software

As explained above, the WebM media file format is supported by most web browsers, you can play the WebM file in your web browser in the following two ways:

1. Selecting a web browser from the right-click context menu
2. By opening a WebM file directly in a web browser

Let’s see both of these methods here.

1]Play WebM files by selecting the web browser from the right-click context menu.

Using this method, you can select any web browser from Explorer to play WebM files. The following steps will help you with this:

1. Open File Explorer and navigate to the folder where you saved the WebM file.
2. Right click the WebM file and select open with. Now select the web browser in which you want to play the WebM file. You can enable file extensions in File Explorer to quickly identify WebM files from other media files.
3. If you cannot find your web browser after selecting “Open from” in the context menu, click choose another app. Now click More apps to expand the list of applications.
4. If your web browser is still not there, click Look for another app on this PC.
5. Now go to the location where you installed the web browser, select it and click open. To view the installation location of your web browser, right-click the browser icon on your desktop and select open file location.

Windows will then open the WebM file in your web browser.

Optionally, you can also set your chosen default web browser for opening WebM files by clicking the icon Always use this app to open .webm files. After setting your web browser as the default software for opening WebM files, Windows will automatically open WebM files in that web browser.

2]Play WebM files by opening them directly in a web browser.

This is an easy way to play WebM files in a web browser. Follow the instructions below:

1. Open a web browser. If you already have it open, open a new tab in it by clicking ctrl+tWith.
2. Click Ctrl+Os to open the file.
3. Now select the WebM file and click open.

Your web browser will then play the selected WebM file.

Free software for playing WebM files

Above, we have described how to open WebM files without third party software. Now let’s take a look at the free software you can install to play WebM files.

1. Windows Media Player
2. VLC media player
3. 5K player
4. Cody
5. SMPlayer

Let’s take a look at these media players one by one.

1]Windows Media Player

Windows Media Player is developed by Microsoft Corporation. All Windows computers come with Windows Media Player preinstalled. To launch Windows Media Player, click the icon start and type Windows Media Player, then select an app from the search results. If you don’t find the app in the search results, you’ll need to install it from Windows Optional Features.

To play WebM files in Windows Media Player, the player must have the necessary audio and video codecs. If you have Windows Media Player 12, you must install the WebM Media Foundation components on your system. Users of earlier versions of Windows Media Player need to install WebM DirectShow filters and Vorbis audio filters to play WebM files. You can download these components and filters from the official WebM site. webmproject.org.

I tried to download the WebM Media Foundation components from the official site and found that the link didn’t work. But when I opened WebM files in Windows Media Player 12, it played them without installing the WebM Media Foundation components.

To play a WebM file in Windows Media Player, right-click it and select Windows Media Player. Or start Windows Media Player and then click Ctrl+Os, and then select the WebM video file to play.

2]VLC media player

VLC Media Player is a free and open source cross-platform media player for Windows that supports a large number of audio and video file formats, including WebM. To play a WebM video file in VLC Media Player, follow these steps:

1. Launch VLC Media Player.
2. Go to “Media > Open File“.
3. Select the WebM video file on your computer and click open.

read: How to fix audio delay in VLC Media Player.

3]5KPlayer

5KPlayer is among the powerful video players that can play high-definition videos, including 5K videos, 4K videos, 360-degree videos, etc. Like VLC Media Player, 5KPlayer also supports a large number of video and audio formats. It is free to download and use. It comes with built-in video downloader which allows you to download videos from Dailymotion, YouTube, etc.

Playing WebM videos in 5KPlayer is very easy. Right click the WebM file and select open with. After that select 5KPlayer to play the WebM file.

4]Cody

Kodi is a free and open source media player that supports WebM and other media formats. Apart from playing video files, Kodi offers many amazing features for users. You can create different playlists for your videos, music, movies and more. Kodi also has free add-ons that you can install to watch TV shows and play games.

In order to play WebM files in Kodi, you must add a folder containing your videos. The steps are:

1. To choose Videos from the left panel.
2. To choose Files.
3. Click on Add videos.
4. Now click Browse and select the folder on your computer containing your media files.

It also displays video file information such as file size, duration, quality, codecs, etc.

To download Kodi, you need to visit its official website, Kodi.tv.

5]SMplayer

SMPlayer is another free media player that supports the WebM file format. It is available in over 30 languages. Advanced features of SMPlayer include audio and video filters, playback speed change, etc. You can also apply various themes and skins to the player to change its appearance. To play a WebM file in SMPlayer, go to “Open > File” or press ctrl+fs, and then select a video file.

SMPlayer also comes with YouTube video support, allowing you to play YouTube videos in SMPlayer. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Copy the YouTube video URL.
2. open SMPlayer.
3. Go to “open > url” or just press Ctrl+UWith.
4. Now paste the URL you copied and click OK. You will then be prompted to download an additional plugin. Click Yes.

After installing the additional plugin, you will be able to play YouTube videos in SMPlayer. You can download SMPlayer from its official website, smplayer.info.

related: Best Free WebM to MP4 Converter Software for Windows.

How to play a WebM file on Windows?

You can play a WebM file on Windows either in your web browser or media players that support the WebM file format. If you search the web, you will find many free and paid programs that support WebM files. Some free WebM media players include Windows Media Player, 5KPlayer, VLC Player, Kodi, etc.

That’s all.

Read next: Best Free Media Players for Windows PC.