Have you ever wondered why downloaded videos sometimes don't play through a TV? Have you watched something perfectly well on a laptop, only to find your TV doesn't recognize it? It's happened to all of us and the short explanation is simply, non-compatibility. Thankfully the answer to your problems will come in this article.

Part 1: What is USB Port for

USB is short for Universal Serial Bus. A USB port is a standard cable connection interface for personal computers and consumer electronics devices.

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There are several major types of physical layouts exist for USB ports:

USB-B (Type B): This rectangular connector approximately 1.4 cm (9/16 in) length by 0.65 cm (1/4 in) height is commonly found on routers, computers, printers, and game consoles. USB sticks normally feature USB-B connectors also.

USB-A (Type A): Micro USB: So-called Micro USB versions of both USB-A and USB-B also exist - smaller versions than their base counterparts, popular on mobile devices. Older but now obsolete " mini USB" versions can also be found on many old devices.

USB Type C: With dimensions of 0.84 cm by 0.26cm, this newer standard is designed to replace both A and B with smaller ports to better support the thinner form factors of mobile devices.

Part 2: Why Do You Need USB Media Player

This can be a nightmare if you're trying to play video from a video camera, SD card or from a USB drive. This is where the USB media player comes into its own.

USB media player is a player with USB interface, which supports data stream transmission between host and USB devices. The built-in video and audio decoder chip of the USB media player can identify and play media files on the USB. If you have a USB hard drive or an SD or micro SD card full of video or music content, USB media players will provide a simple and cost-effective way to play them back. These players are very compact and powerful. All of these players allow you to play videos and music from many different types of storage devices. Just plug them into a TV and you can display a video for a promotional event or party. These devices are also good for looping a video for continuous playback.

To be brief, USB media player a simple and effective way to play your content from a storage device to any television in your house.

Part 3: Tips on Choosing USB Media Player

If you like to play Divx, Xvid, MKV, MOV, MP4 or even highly performance video formats in H.264, VC-1 directly from your television set. Here are tips on choosing an external media player to help you do so.

The first thing you should know is the difference between Video Container and Video Codec, many people are confused why the media player they bought doesn't support certain files but it's on the supported list, here is the reason.
First, a container (for example .AVI .MOV .MKV .MP4) or wrapper format is a meta-file format whose specification describes how data and metadata are stored (not coded). A program able to identify and open a container file might not be able to decode the contained data. This can be caused by the opening program lacking the required decoding algorithm, or the meta-data not providing enough information.

Then, when you look at a certain Video file, don't only look at the file extension, check the real codec (for example MPEG, H.264, H.264, Xvid) used inside the BOX/Container. You may need some software tools to do that.

To put it in a nutshell, an external media player is a convenient device to play back video files that are not usually supported by your DVD player. The most important thing to check before buying one is whether it supports video formats of your choice and the newer formats with firmware upgrades.

Part 4: 5 Best USB Media Players to Recommend

Chances are, unless your TV was built within the last two years, it may be incompatible with a host of file formats your computer has no problems playing. This is usually because your PC has the ability to connect to the internet and download updated software or use its operating system to convert the files. With the widespread success and use of the internet nowadays, if you want to play audio, video and to view images on computers or laptops, you may look for a media player program. Here I will recommend you 5 best USB media players.

Common USB media players include: Windows Media Player, StormPlayer, MPlayer, Qvod, and Leawo Blu-ray Player, etc. There are these USB media players' main features in detail.

Windows Media Player Windows Media Player (WMP) is a media player and media library application developed by Microsoft that is used for playing audio, video and viewing images on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as on Pocket PC and Windows Mobile-based devices. It is also a free USB media player in Windows. It is designed by Microsoft. The interface is as follows:

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1. Sony's UBP-X700 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Player with High-Resolution Audio

Supporting for both major forms of HDR and object-based surround sound, Sony's UBP-X700 is one of the best Blu-ray player you could buy. The UBP-X700 delivers everything you need to enter the new UHD HDR world. The X700's keen pricing makes it a high-value overachiever. Advanced surround sound, 4K detail, and vibrant High Dynamic Range images offer a visual experience for the ultimate immersion providing users with the better picture four times the resolution of conventional Blu-ray™ (Full HD), which also is equipped with new 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray™ discs and 4K streaming services. Dolby Vision™ is an HDR solution that creates an immersive, engaging cinematic experience in your home. The UBP-X700 features advanced upscaling of everything you watch to 4K resolution.

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StormPlayer Stormplayer is an open source software that will let you perform Network & Internet::Other tasks. It's free for both personal and commercial use, thus the perfect choice for those that want an alternative for Network & Internet. It is also a good USB drive media player from Beijing Storm Tech Co., Ltd., and the player is compatible with most video and audio formats. The operation interface of the StormPlayer is as follows:

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MPlayer is an open source multimedia player that is issued with the GNU Common Public License. This software can be used in mainstream operating systems such as Linux and other Class systems, Windows and Mac OSX. MPlayer is based on command-line interfaces, and different operating systems can also be installed with different graphical interfaces. Another big feature of MPlayer is widespread output support. So, don 't worry about using this software to play USB media.

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Qvod is a core, multi-functional, personalized play software, unlike the traditional playing software, it integrates different playback engines, applies P2P technology and supports the mainstream audio and video formats such as MKV, RM VB, MPEG, AVI and WMV. It is also a good USB drive media player.

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Last but not the least, Leawo Blu-ray Player is a free Blu-ray & 4K player software tool dedicated to playing Blu-ray format files and DVD disks on a computer (Windows or Mac). The operation interface of the Leawo Blu-ray Player is as follows:

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let's show you the details of Leawo Blu-ray Player software in the following part.

Part 5: Best Free Blu-ray Alternative - Leawo Blu-ray Player

Being the best media player software combo, Leawo Blu-ray Player is all-inclusive media player software to play back Blu-ray/DVD disc, common videos and up to 1080P HD videos smoothly on Windows/Mac OS.

As professional Blu-ray/DVD media player software, Leawo Blu-ray Player could play back common videos, up to 1080P videos and audios in almost all formats with lossless quality. It is also one of the best players to play 4K movies. With various advanced audio decoding technologies like Dolby, DTS, AAC, TrueHD, DTS-HD, Leawo Blu-ray Player delivers extraordinary audio effect. For better user experience, it provides detailed navigation and full playback control and allows people to adjust subtitles, audio tracks and videos during playback, customize background picture and switch program skins, support multi-languages and multiple screen display, etc. People could add videos to the internal playlist for continuous movie enjoying. With Leawo Blu-ray Player, HD movie enjoyment on Windows and Mac would be greatly improved.

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Leawo Free Blu-ray Player 

☉ 100% free movie player for Mac users to play Ultra HD 4K, 1080P and 720P video for free.

☉ Free Blu-ray disc player to play 4K Blu-ray disc and 1080P Blu-ray disc, regardless of disc protection and region code.

☉ Support multiple audio decoding systems like Dolby, DTS, AAC, TrueHD, DTS-HD, etc.

☉ Adjust subtitles, video and audio during media playback.

For the detail steps of Leawo Blu-ray Player, please refer to the following.

Step 1. To use Leawo Blu-ray Player, first you need to download and install it. It is free to get the software from its website. It is free to get the software from its website.

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Step 2. After the software is installed successfully, double-click the shortcut icon to open the software and the software interface is as shown in the figure above. Click open file button, find removable storage device and then find the file in the USB you want to play. Then select the video and click the open button in the lower right corner or double click the file to play it.

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Step 3. And at the same time, if you want to play a DVD, you should set the DVD_Blu-ray make sure it can play DVD/BD automatically. It can help you play the media in the USB smoothly.

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After all the settings, you can enjoy your media files from USB now.

Conclusion

Leawo Free Blu-ray Player software contains all media playback solutions you need for your leisure entertainment. It can be used not only as a normal video player, but a professional Blu-ray compact disc player as well. By comparing with the general media players, we find the Leawo Blu-ray Player software is the most comprehensive player, which contain a large number of coding and decoding libraries. If you are looking some other free Blu-ray players, you can check this post about best free Blu-ray player tools.