How to Play Xvid Movies in VLC?

Xvid (formerly "XviD") is not a video container format like MP4, but a video compression format (codec) for compressing video to and decompressing video from the MPEG-4 Advanced Simple Profile (ASP) format. Video encoded with Xvid is MPEG-4 ASP video, and it is mainly stored in the AVI container. But you may also see Xvid content with .m4v, .3gp2, and .xvid extensions.

Xvid-encoded videos can be decoded using all ASP-compatible decoders and players, such as the libavcodec-based VLC media player. Generally speaking, VLC can play Xvid files without any additional software. However, you may sometimes encounter issues with VLC not playing Xvid. Such errors may be caused by missing Xvid codec. To resolve this issue, you can install the Xvid codec or convert the file. Read on to learn more.

By using the latest version of VLC, you can get the latest VLC codec library, which may just install the missing Xvid codec back.

There are two ways to update VLC. One is to uninstall the current VLC, then download and install the latest VLC from https://www.videolan.org/vlc/. Another way is to open VLC > Help > Check for Updates... and update it to the latest version.

If updating the VLC codec library doesn't work, you can try installing a third-party Xvid codec for VLC. The specific method is as follows:

Step 1. Visit https://www.xvid.com/ and download the Xvid software. Alternatively, you can install a codec pack, such as the K-Lite Codec Pack, which has a range of commonly used codecs including Xvid.

Step 2. Click on the downloaded Xvid software and follow the on-screen prompts to install the codec into the VLC installation directory.

Step 3. Now, open VLC and check if it can play Xvid.

The last method is to convert Xvid videos to VLC supported formats for smooth playback. You can use a handy video converter such as WonderFox HD Video Converter Factory Pro to handle the conversion. Here I will show you how to transcode Xvid to MP4 for playback in VLC. Please download download the software and follow the steps.

Step 1. Launch the software and click 'Converter'.

Step 2. Click '+ Add Files' to import the video into the converter.

Step 3. Click the right-side output format image and choose 'MP4' or 'H.264' (for MP4) under the 'Video' tab.

Step 4. At last, click 'Run' to start converting. After the conversion, you should be able to play the converted file in VLC without any problem.

Xvid movies not playing in VLC is a common problem. Whether you are installing the Xvid codec in VLC or converting Xvid to VLC compatible formats, these methods will enable you to play Xvid movies in VLC smoothly. However, we still recommend the third method as it is a universal solution that can play videos on any device and platform without installing the Xvid codec. Get the video converter here: