The software Timelapse uses internally to play / show videos is the legacy (old) version of the Media Player supplied by the Windows operating system. If you are having issues playing video, the problem usually stems from your computer either missing this internal media player, or missing the video codec (compresseor/decompressor) needed to play the video, or using a codec that isn’t quite right. These problems stem from Windows s(rather than Timelapse): Microsoft has not updated this internal player, yet still supplies it as the only one that Timelapse can use for programming. Believe me, I have spent many many hours trying to find a different player. Having said that, one or more of the solutions below should solve most playback issues.

Solution 1. Make sure Microsoft’s internal Windows Media Player is installed

Try this first, as it is the most common remedy. Timelapse uses Microsoft’s internal Windows Media Player to play videos (this is different than the Media Player program). If the Windows Media Player is not installed, then Timelapse cannot play the videos. To fix this, try installing or upgrading your installation of Windows Media player as described here and repeated below.

1. Click the Windows Start button, type features, and then select Turn Windows features on or off. Alternately, type Turn Windows features on or off in the Windows 11 search bar.
2. Expand Media Features and see whether the Windows Media Player Legacy (App) check box is selected.
3. If it is not selected, it means the Windows Media Player is not installed. To install it:
   1. Select the check box. Click OK and restart your computer.
4. If it selected, try to reinstall the latest version of Windows Media Player
   1. Clear the check box. Click OK and restart your computer, which will remove your current version of Windows Media Player.
   2. Repeat step one above to then install the latest version of Windows Media Player, where you check the check box, click OK and restart your computer.
5. Fire up Timelapse, and see if it now plays your video files.

Solution 2. Install missing Codecs

Codecs specific to your video are needed to display it properly. If your videos tend to hesitate, stutter, skip or stall during playback, try installing various codecs as described below. The problem is that the media player used by Timelapse is a legacy app, which doesn’t include the codecs you may need (even though you can play videos on your other Windows media players).

1. Download the K-lite coded pack, which includes a variety of standard audio and video playback codecs. Restart your computer when done.
   Warning. K-lite web pages contain ad-ware that try to fool you into downloading other software. To get around that:
   • 1st page: only click the Download Standard link
   • 2nd page: you should see a list of Server locations. Only click one of those, and the download should begin.
   • Check the downloaded file name: should be something like K-Lite_Codec_Pack_1875_Standard.exe (the number may differ).
   • Open that file. There are options where you can selectively install parts of it. For example, you may want install only the codecs, leaving out (for example) another media player included in that download.
2. Similar to the above, there are other web sites that offer various codecs. One (untested) site is free-codecs.com . But be careful: check whether its a legit site.
3. If none of the above works, this site seems informative: Install missing codecs in Windows

Solution 3. Make sure you are using your graphics card

Most modern computers contain graphics cards that provide high performance video playback. Its possible that your video playback isn’t using your graphics card. Unfortunately, there are so many graphics cards (and settings) that it is almost impossible to provide a simple explanation on what to check. However, you may want to try the following ‘generic’ instructions.

1. Open your graphics card settings app. For example, my computer has an NVidia graphics card, which includes an NVidia Control Panel that allows me to view and adjust its settings.
2. Check if Timelapse is using the Graphics card processor at high performance. For example, the NVidia Control Panel has a ‘Manage 3d settings’ that allows a user to select preferred settings for particular programs. I set it to High perfomance. Alternately, it may describe a Power management mode where you should set it to ‘Prefer Maximum Performance’.
3. If the above doesn’t match what you see, just search around in those settings to see if there is anything that seems to indicate that the graphics card is being used, and that its being used at as high performance as possible.

Solution 4. If you are stuck…

1. Use an external video player. If you can run your video outside of Timelapse, make that player your Windows default video player. You can then use the Play External button in the Timelapse video player to view the video in that video player. However, you won’t see any bounding boxes (if recognition is being used), or be able to pan/zoom the video using the Timelapse controls.
2. Use a different computer as its system settings, installed software and graphics card may be more compatible with the media player.
3. Could it be a Driver issue? If nothing above works, another possibility (perhaps not that likely) is that your display driver is having issues. Maybe its an old machine, or you haven’t updated things for a long while. You can try to reinstalling your display driver.
   • Right click on Start button and click on Device Manager.
   • Select the Graphic driver from the list by extending Display adapters.
   • Right click on the Graphic driver and click on Update Driver Software.