Windows 8.1 why won't WMV's auto play?

[cotton]

Not sure if this is the place to ask but. I went from XP to windows 8.1 and now when I click a wmv to play from a site it wants to download instead of just play. What is different? Anyone have a solution?

[parts25]

Could be a codec issue or something else strange. Try VLC or KMPlayer instead.

[rodinuk]

i know zilch about Windows 8 but I'd spend a few minutes checking what your browser does regarding its behaviour when you right-click on filenames. These are set in Preferences or options depending on browser. It could be the default action or the application tasked to handle this request is the culprit trying to download rather than play.

for Firefox:
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Changing_media_handling_behaviour

My actions for handling .wmv looks like this for example (although I'm a Mac user you should see something akin to this in your browser options/prefs).

[kukm4]

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/play-windows-media-files-in-firefox