Why is Xbox Video app unable to play AVI files?

Question

On my Windows 8 Pro system, Windows Media Player is able to play some AVI video files. It means that required codecs to play those files are installed in the system.

Then, why is Xbox Video (Metro app by Microsoft) unable to play the same AVI files?

How to make Xbox Video app play those AVI files?

Answer 1

According to this discussion, the only codecs that WinRT apps can use either must be supplied by Microsoft or bundled into the app. WinRT apps cannot use any codecs installed from the desktop, and there doesn't appear to be any way to make a 3rd party codec available to all WinRT apps.

This behavior is by design. In order for you to use your FLAC MF codec from within the context of your Windows store app you will need to modify the codec to work in the WinRT environment. You will then need to ship the codec with your application rather than rely on a desktop installation.

Answer 2

AVI is simply a container format. Similar to how zip files are containers for other files, avi files contain either/both a video stream encoded with any arbitrary codec, and an audio stream encoded with any arbitrary codec.

These codecs need to be supported before you can play the file. You can install CCCP to get more codecs support.