Top 3 Proven Methods to Play MOV on Windows 11

Why Won't Windows 11 Play MOV Files?

Many people assume the MOV format is the problem, but that's only part of the story. MOV is a container format that can hold video, audio, subtitles, and metadata. As for the outline question, it depends on the codec used to encode the video inside the container. The most common reason why Windows 11 won’t play a MOV file is that it’s encoded with HEVC. This video codec is the default recording codec on modern devices, particularly on iPhones. Windows 11 supports many multimedia formats, but not all installations support HEVC playback. The Media Player built into Windows supports H.265 video decoding via the HEVC Video Extension.

Method 1: Convert & Play MOV Smoothly with AnyMP4

AnyMP4 Video Converter Ultimate is the ultimate Convert & Play fix to play iPhone MOV video on PC. It combines a media player and a high-speed converter in a single tool. It can convert Apple QuickTime files to MP4s encoded in H.264, MPEG-4, AV1, or HEVC/H.265 codec. It uses the most advanced hardware acceleration media processing to achieve 120× conversion speed. Also, you can import hundreds of MOVs and convert them simultaneously without lag and crashes.

1. Download AnyMP4 Video Converter Ultimate and complete the installation. Shortly after the setup, the software opens to the Converter tab by default.

Click +Add Files to add the MOV source from your Windows 11. You can also drop an entire folder to batch import multiple video files. Remember, you can add one or more MOVs.

2. Go to the Output Format picker and select MP4 under the Video category. Essentially, choose a quality preset that matches your intended use. Click Custom Profile, then set the video codec to H.264 to ensure error-free playback.

3. Turn on Hardware Acceleration and 120× Faster Conversion to speed up conversions. Set the output destination folder, then click Convert All to convert MOV to MP4 in Windows 11.

In our hands-on testing, AnyMP4 converted 55 MOV test files with varying resolutions in just 2 minutes and 8 seconds. When we play it on Windows 11 for video playback and quality assessment, the converted file plays smoothly. To learn more about the supported video formats for Windows 11, check out this article: MOV vs M4V vs MP4.

Method 2: Use a Free Third-Party Player

VLC Media Player has been around for many years, and even today’s OS still supports the tool. It supports almost all video formats, so you don't need to download extra codecs. Better yet, it can handle codecs like HEVC/H.265, AV1, and ProRes effortlessly. See the quick guide below to learn how to play .mov files on Windows 11.

To Play: In VLC, press Ctrl+O to load the MOV file for playback. After adding the video, VLC will decode and play it smoothly. Use the playback controls to pause, resume, stop, and adjust volume.

VLC played the 1080p iPhone video encoded in HEVC smoothly without buffering. However, when we attempted to play the next video (4K HEVC MOV), it glitched. If you experience the same, you can try to fix it. Go to Tools, select Preferences, and click Input/Codecs. Enable the Hardware-accelerated decoding to improve playback performance.

Method 3: Install the HEVC Video Extension for Windows Media Player

The built-in Media Player of Windows 11 is a good VLC Media Player alternative. With it, you don’t need to download an extra media player for MOV files. Without downloading the missing codec, the 0xc00d5212 error will appear, preventing you from playing the MOV file. Here’s how to open a MOV file in Windows 11 using the built-in Media Player:

To Play: Download HEVC Video Extension from the Microsoft Store. Go to the Folder where the MOV file is saved and double-click it to check if it’s encoded in HEVC/H.265. Play it in the Media Player; the video should play normally without codec-related error messages.

After installing the extension, all the MOV videos played flawlessly. The missing codecs could be installed as a remedy. However, downloading the codecs is not recommended. The downloaded codecs may have malware and might not work on your system.