K-Lite Codec Pack Full review
K-Lite Codec Pack Full upgrades your system's media capabilities with a full package of high-performance audio and video codecs that can play just about anything. This free pack is more than a collection of filters: It also includes a variety of tweaks, options, and extras. Multiple installation and setup options let you choose the whole pack or only the components and file associations you want. K-Lite Codec Pack Full works with many media players, including Windows Media Player and the included Media Player Classic.
Pros
Setup tweaks: Choosing advanced setup enables a huge range of options and tweaks like HDMI or S/PDIF audio pass-through and multiple surround-sound settings. K-Lite Codec Pack's installer can find and remove conflicting, obsolete, and broken codecs and filters, too.
Codec Tweak Tool: The Codec Tweak Tool runs when setup finishes or on demand from the Start Menu. It lets you change any setup options and tweak codec performance individually.
Start Menu extras: K-Lite's Start Menu folder also holds Media Player Classic, a large Configuration menu, Help resources, and a Tools menu with extras like GraphStudioNext and MediaInfo.
Cons
Conflicts and invalid paths: Some filters and other components balked during setup; we followed the setup wizard's recommendation and removed them from the Windows Registry, rebooted, and ran the Codec Tweak Tool.
Bottom Line
You may need to experiment with many tweaks and settings to extract the maximum performance from K-Lite Codec Pack Full. But we're impressed with its ability to optimize your PC's audio and video capabilities.
