Media Player Classic

I use the Media Player Classic K-Lite Codec Pack Mega (version 20.1.0 Mega, ~65.4 MB, dated October 18, 2026).
When I open video recordings/files, quite often (though it happens occasionally, not every single time), there is complete silence for the first second—specifically between 00:00 and 00:01. The audio only "kicks in" properly and begins to play as expected after that first second has passed. It should be audible right from the very beginning (00:00).
It’s inconsistent—sometimes I open a recording and the sound works perfectly from the very beginning (00:00), but five minutes later, I open a recording and it’s faulty again, with the sound only kicking in after 00:01. Then, five minutes after that, I open another recording and it works fine from the start—and so on.
Could it be due to an update? Do you also experience this sometimes?

wojtekmazgaj said:

Do you also experience this sometimes?

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I think it's a Windows thing, putting the Sound Card in a Sleep state.
I have the same with foobar2000, but only on a fresh boot and a fresh instance of foobar2000..., after initialization, it works as expected.
You might check MPC settings for a Keep Audio Alive setting of some sort..., or try WASAPI Exclusive mode.

That is very likely Pre-emptive actions by the Media Player.
On a new track it will have to find it, the codec, possible empty space and then play, subsequent plays it knows this information(caching), thus starting faster.
That is by design, not any sort of fault.

wojtekmazgaj said:

It should be audible right from the very beginning (00:00)

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An audio track may be empty for the first second. With some Audio apps you can examine the digital data file to see whether that is true or not.

If your Media Player is open then it should not be due to any Sleep state, Power saving, Green policy, etc. Obviously such settings need to be checked, I have assumed that has been done.

Helmut said:

That is very likely Pre-emptive actions by the Media Player.
On a new track it will have to find it, the codec, possible empty space and then play, subsequent plays it knows this information(caching), thus starting faster.
That is by design, not any sort of fault.


An audio track may be empty for the first second. With some Audio apps you can examine the digital data file to see whether that is true or not.

If your Media Player is open then it should not be due to any Sleep state, Power saving, Green policy, etc. Obviously such settings need to be checked, I have assumed that has been done.

Click to expand...

So, is this okay? Do I not need to do anything?
Is it an issue with the update, or should I uninstall the Media Player Classic program and download it again?