How do I change the mp3 decoder wmp uses?

[common-sense]

I'm using the original wmp that came with windows 2000...and I'd like to keep using the old one. I'd prefer to use the ffdshow mp3 codec or something good. Or maybe whatever mpc uses to decode. How do I step by step change the mp3 decoder wmp uses? Or is it not possible?
Thanks

[celtic_druid]

WMP should use whatever dshow decoder has the highest merit, whether that be mpadecfilter.ax (decoder that MPC uses), ffdshow.ax or l3codecx.ax (default windows filter).

[Skith]

you could also unregister the default windows mp3 decoder (as long as your system has another mp3 decoder registered), you shouldn't have any problems. As mentioned above l3codecx.ax is the windows default filter.

To do so, open a command prompt window and type:

regsvr32 /u C:\windows\system32\l3codecx.ax

and push [enter]

note: change the path to l3codecx.ax if necessary.

I have attatched a zip file with two batch files, one to register, and one to unregister the filter. You can edit them in notepad and change the path if necessary.



bat_files.zip

[common-sense]

Thank you very much. I'm just curious...what does that mean, highest merit?

[Skith]

It is basically the priority Windows gives to the filter. If you have two mp3 filters loaded, the one with the highest merit will be used. This is because it would have higher priority than the other which would have a lower merit.