Friday, March 30, 2012

Easiest way to display MKV thumbnails

After searching the Internet for days trying to figure out how to get my Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit system to display MKV thumbnails, I ran across an incredibly simple solution:



The codec pack not only lets Windows Explorer (yes, even 64-bit Explorer) display thumbnails, but will enable MKV playback within Windows Media Player.

There are many other solutions for getting Windows to display thumbnails for other file types. A pretty clever tool is called Mystic Thumbs that generates thumbnails for lots of image and data file formats. It's worth trying, but of course won't help with MKV thumbnails.

This is a fairly short, direct post, but I wanted to get this crazy easy solution out on the interwebs in the hope that it will save others hours of wasted attempts and unnecessary software installations.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Found an easier way. Install K-lite codec basic and if you want to avoid the BS of having to install additional codecs on your computer select advanced install deselect all and only install the "Windows Explorer Extentions" and you are finished.

Dave Dugal said...

Excellent suggestion! Thanks Nick.

FTW, the K-Lite Codec Packs can be downloaded here:

http://codecguide.com/download_kl.htm

WinBro said...

Even easier way is with Icaros v2.0. You can have as many extensions registered as you want.
Source: http://windowsbro.blogspot.com/2012/08/add-thumbnails-for-flv-mkv-mp4-files-to.html

Dave Dugal said...

Good deal. Thanks for the tip, WinBro. Worked like a charm.

Unknown said...

Late to this, but I came across your post as I couldn't see a few MKV thumbnails; I've previously been using Shark007 codecs, but installed K-Lite - not only can I see all of my thumbnails, but an MKV file that I'd just downloaded that was unplayable actually played! (I'd suspected it was a problem with my codecs.)

Thank you!

Dave Dugal said...

You're very welcome, Nerissa. I jumped through several hoops trying to get thumbnails to display before I came upon this revelation. My hope was to save other Internet citizens some time, effort, and grief.