Windows 10 users do not need to pay extra to play HEVC video files. HEVC or high efficiency video coding uses H.265 a.k.a. MPEG-H part 2 video compression system which follows on from H.264 MP4. If you try to play HEVC encoded video on a Windows 10 computer you may be greeted with the following error message prompting you to buy a codec from the Windows store. If you want to buy the extension you can but there are free alternatives available.
Free HEVC player for Windows 10
VLC media player from VideoLAN is a completely free open source video playback application for most computer and mobile operating systems including Windows 10. VLC has a much broader codec support than built-in software players and happily handles HEVC video on Windows 10.
HEVC video files may still have the file extension MP4 which is usually associated with H.264. This is because MP4 is a container format or wrapper – what’s inside could be compressed using H.264, H.265 or something else. The file extension doesn’t really tell you anything other than it’s likely to be a video file.
You can download VLC media player for free from VideoLAN. If you enjoy using VLC then consider making a donation to help them carry on making top-notch software players.