Microsoft announced a new version of Media Player for Windows 11 in November 2021 and released it to the public in early 2022. Microsoft has previously brought some beta updates to Windows Media Player that also contain new features. The update is now available to all Windows 11 users, and interested parties can download it on the Microsoft Store.
Microsoft had previously announced that it would replace Groove Music with Windows Media Player, and as the company discontinued the older version of Windows Media Player, there have been plenty of complaints from users that the built-in service doesn’t work.
This new version of the media player is a remake of Groove Music, but Microsoft wants to make it the classic Windows Media Player successor. With the release of today’s update, Windows 11’s new modern media player also gets major improvements. IT Home knows that the current version number of the new Media Player is 11.2203.30.0. From the current point of view, there are two significant changes:
Song List:
- As shown, you can now experience the new music library.
- As you can see in the image above, you can quickly switch between different views of different artist/artist pages while browsing your collection.
- If you don’t see any media files in your music library, it’s possible that you don’t have the folder containing the songs associated with the media player.
- In the new version of the media player, the default view will display music albums in a grid view, and another section will display all songs, grouped by album.
- You can also take quick actions like quick selection and playback when you hover over albums, artists, videos and playlists.
Video Enhancement:
The major change on the other hand is enhanced support for video. When you play a video in Media Player, it will have a new prompt. You can also try right-clicking anywhere on the playback screen.
After a right-click, Media Player opens a new context menu where you can view the new file without jumping to another page. Additionally, it provides access to album pages as well as artist pages.
A new option in the new version of Media Player, Video Enhancement, also allows you to adjust the brightness and contrast of your video. Microsoft says it’s working on improving the performance of Media Player, especially for devices with very large music libraries. In addition to improvements to the media player, Microsoft has also started testing a new Outlook client for Windows 11, and we can expect to see more at the upcoming Build developer conference.