Play GoPro 4K Video with Windows Media Player

Windows Media Player GoPro 4K Playback issues

With GoPro Hero 4 and the newly released GoPro Hero 5 camera, you can record 4K video with crisper picture quality. For PC users who try to play the GoPro 4K video with Windows Media Player, they often encounter the following problem:

"I am Using hero 5 Session. Videos recorded in resolutions 720, 960, 1080 play just fine in Windows Media Player. Videos recorded in resolutions 1440, 2.7K, 4K do NOT play in Windows Media Player (plays audio only)."

"Hey i need some help! Upgraded to a Hero4 black from a Hero1 silver ( i know, crazy jump). When i record a video at 3840x2160 (or at any setting) when i play it back on my computer with Windows Media Player the video lags and it seems like its going in slow motion and choppy. Is there a setting to change or am is it me? Thanks for the help."

Why Windows Media Player not properly play 4K video?

Before going any further, there are still some important tips for you to properly play GoPro video with any resolution:

1. Make sure you have the GoPro files copied to the computer hard drive.
2. Try to open the GoPro files directly in a media player (instead of the GoPro Studio)
3. Try to use a SD card that is sure to comply to the camera bit-rate needs in that setting for your GoPro camera.

Then let's back to the question we listed above: why Windows Media Player fail to play GoPro 4K video properly. From GoPro's official page, we get the information to playback a 4K video on computer, your PC should meet the following minimum system requirements:

Integrated Graphics solutions that support 4K external displays (8GB RAM recommended with integrated graphics solutions):
- 4th generation Intel® Core™ processor family (Intel Haswell based CPUs) - (Intel® Iris™ Pro Graphics 5200 / Intel® Iris™ Graphics 5100, Intel® HD Graphics 5000 / 4600 / 4400 / 4200)
- AMD A10-7800 APU
Discrete Graphics cards that support 4K external displays:

Nvidia GeForce
- GeForce® GTX™ 970
- GeForce® GTX™ 980
- GeForce® GTX™ TITAN Z
- GeForce® GTX™ TITAN Black
- GeForce® GTX™ TITAN
- GeForce® GTX™ 780 & 780 Ti
- GeForce® GTX™ 770
GeForce® GTX™ 760 & 760 Ti
GeForce® GTX™ 750 & 750 Ti
GeForce® GTX™ 690, 680, 670, 660, 660 Ti, 650, 650 Ti BOOST, 650 Ti
AMD Radeon™ HD 7000 Series or better

Other things to consider:
- You need to have a monitor which is capable of playing back 4K video if you want to properly play 4K.
- Even if your computer meets the requirements, you may find that 4K video plays back choppy. This is due to the immense processing power required to play 4K.

Convert and Compress GoPro 4K video for Windows Media Player

To smoothly play GoPro 4K video on Windows Media Player, then it is essential for you to compress 4K to 1080p. In addition, the 4K H.264 video recorded by GoPro is not included in Windows Media Player supported 4K formats, you still need to perform a codec transcoding process.

Here, you can get the job easily done with our best 4K Video Compressor - Pavtube Video Converter. Which can assist you to convert and compress GoPro Hero 4K to Windows Media Player native compatible and smooth playback 1080p or 720p WMV HD file formats. The program supports batch conversion mode, so that you can batch import multiple GoPro 4K video into the program for conversion at one time.

Step by Step to Convert and Compress GoPro 4K Video for Windows Media Player

Step 1: Load GoPro Hero 4K video.

Download the free trial version of the program. Launch it on your computer. Click "File" menu and select "Add Video/Audio" or click the "Add Video" button on the top tool bar to import GoPro 4K video files into the program.

Load GoPro Hero 4K video

Step 2: Define the output format.

Clicking the Format bar, from its drop-down list, select Windows Media Player compatible HD file formats "WMV HD(*.wmv)" under "HD Video" main category.

Output Windows Media Player compatible HD file formats

Step 3: Compress 4K to 1080p or 720p.

Click "Settings" on the main interface to open "Profile Settings" window, in video section, click "Size(pix)" drop-down list to choose "1980*1020" or "1020*720" to compress GoPro 4K to 1080p or 720p. You can also change other settings according to your own needs.

Compress 4K to 1080p for WMP

Step 4: Begin the conversion process.

After all setting is completed, hit the "Convert" button at the right bottom of the main interface to begin the the conversion and compression process from GoPro 4K video to Windows Media Player compatible 1080p conversion process.

When the conversion is finished, click "Open Output Folder" icon on the main interface to open the folder with generated files. Then you can smoothly view converted files on Windows Media Player with no choppy playback issues.

What's Next? Price: $35