Useful guides and tutorials related to codecs and multimedia.

Why a Samsung QLED refuses an AVI that plays fine on your PC, and the four-letter tag change that fixes it in seconds without re-encoding.

Five free Mac players that open MKV and HEVC without paid extensions - VLC, IINA, mpv, Kodi and Elmedia, and what each one is actually for.

Check your HEVC extension version, update it by hand in the Microsoft Store and switch on automatic updates, with the Windows 10 version limit explained.

A free converter for iPhone files - HEIC to JPG or PNG, HEVC video to MP4, in batches, with a choice about keeping the location data.

Which drivers actually need updating, which to leave alone, and the two-minute safety net that turns a bad driver into a five-minute fix.

What an M3U playlist actually contains, why M3U8 is the same file, how to open one on any device - and the one time converting it is worth doing.

Turn a portable SSD into a pocket Android PC with Bliss OS - which build to pick, how to install it so your apps stay, and fixes for boot and Wi-Fi snags.

Seven free video editors for PC and phone that export with no watermark, plus the small print on Clipchamp, CapCut and VideoPad.

When AV1 plays but stutters and the fan spins up, the GPU is not doing the decoding - here is the 30-second check and the fix in each player.

K-Lite, X Codec Pack, Shark007, LAV Filters and Microsoft's own extensions compared, with the abandoned packs to skip and a safe install checklist.