encoders...advice?
 

i have videos downloading currently and i preview them to make sure they are the right videos, and when i preview them and i get a message on windows media player saying that it does not support something called a "codec" that was used to compress the file, i have a few questions about that, wut is a codec? wut can i do to possibly update a codec, if i can? please help me

Have a look at the thread below, there are links to various codec packs:)
There's also a link to VLC player, which is free & has codecs installed to play most file types.
CODECs list and alternate players for Movies