Earlier this year Microsoft added native support for the MKV file format to its latest gaming console, the Xbox One. This was the first time that the possibility of this support being brought over to Windows was raised, and that’s exactly what has happened now. The Matroska Multimedia Container file format, commonly known as MKV, is now natively supported by Windows 8.1.
The VLC media player is widely used for playing the MKV file format, notwithstanding the fact that it happens to be one of the most popular media players because it has support for virtually all media formats.
It really is no secret that MKV is the to-go format for providing pirated copies of TV shows and movies through file sharing sites or BitTorrent. Those who download such content online would previously rely upon third party players, like VLC, but having native support on Windows 8.1 will eliminate the need to do that.
This support won’t be limited to Windows 8.1. Microsoft is already committed to supporting MKV in Windows 10 which is expected to be released around summer next year. Native MKV on Windows 8.1 is held back by the codec and subtitle support of this operating system, but this might be improved with Windows 10. Support for FLAC or Free Lossless Audio Codec has also been committed.
Filed in . Read more about Microsoft and Windows 8.1.