Windows 10 HEVC playback - Yes or No?

Hi,

Thank you for posting your query on Microsoft Community.

I would like to inform you that, as Windows 10 is still in its developmental stage. we have to wait for its final release and check how the HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding) shall be supported.

Hope this information is helpful.  For any further query, feel free to contact us.

Thank you.

Thanks for letting us know that you are aware of the problem and are working on it.

However, after KB3074679 andKB3074686 on the 24th July, Film & TV will now not play MP4 and x264, which it did before!

Windows Media Player still won't play HEVC (x265).

One day to go... and still no HEVC playback?

Sound only - no video!

Okay!

Two full days in after final release ... nada!

No HEVC support!

Can we have an answer please?

Hi,

Any further information yet?

Initially we included HEVC (H.265) software decode in Windows 10 pre-release for Windows for PC and phone.  We made a late decision to limit HEVC support to devices that had hardware support.  As HEVC is very computationally complex, this will provide a more consistent experience. 

Although there are limited devices in the market today with HEVC hardware support (e.g., NVidia GTX960), this is likely to change soon.

The list of supported codecs for Windows 10 can be found here:  https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/xaml/mt282148.aspx.

Work for NVidia by any chance AndyGl?

You joined yesterday, have answered 3 questions, all about HEVC, and have used the same answer - but all 3 questions were started by me! 

HEVC support can easily be added to Windows 10 by downloading and installing the appropriate codec, or just installing a 'third party' player. Why didn't you say that AndyGl?

However, I am referring to the fact that Windows 10, or it's default apps, were supposed to support HEVC 'out of the box' without the end user doing or adding anything.

I just get the feeling that I am going to ignore your answer, and would suggest everyone else do the same, as in the list of supported codecs you quoted it states that Windows 10 does support HEVC in mp4 or m2ts format, which is the same article I read some time ago - hence why I asked these questions in the 1st place!

I actually work for Microsoft (not sure why the badge isn't showing up but wanted to respond to your question somewhat promptly rather than wait until that is sorted...I was out of the office last week hence just replying now).  And I answered in all three posts to make it easier for people to find the answer.

The footnote in the article does denote that support for H.265 varies by machine.  This was not the case in the pre-releases but was a (somewhat painful) decision we had to make late in the game.

This is something we will revisit in future releases.  I suspect that H.265 will follow a similar trajectory to H.264 and will be present on most devices at some point in the future.

I know this is not the answer you were looking for, and I apologize for that.