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Basic set up

On my Windows 7 Professional 64-bit system I have installed K-Lite Codec Pack 7.10 and K-Lite Codec Pack 64-bit 4.6 with only the following options (the idea being to only add what's missing and not replace what's already there from Microsoft):

  • Video: H.263, FLV1 + FLV4, VP8
  • Audio: Vorbis
  • Filters: Matroska splitter (Haali), MP4/3GP/MOV splitter (Haali), FLV splitter
  • Other: Preferred Filter Tweaker for Windows 7
  • Thumbnails (64-bit): +flv (3gp was already checked, there was no option for webm)
  • File associations (32-bit): +Matroska (.webm), +Flash Video (.flv)

The result is that .3gp, .flv and .webm files open and play with video and audio in Windows Media Player, and that .flv files show a thumbnail in Windows Explorer.

Tweaks

I followed these guides on configuring thumbnails using the Preferred filter tweaker, by setting ffdshow as the preferred H.264 codec and disabling Media Foundation for .3gp, but as I expected it doesn't work. The guides don't even mention H.263 or .webm (which uses VP8).

The last thing I did was to set the option Enable thumbnail generation to Yes in the Haali Media Splitter properties. And even though that splitter is used for both .3gp and .webm (which is a variant of Matroska), Explorer doesn't show.

I have restarted Windows after every change, and downloaded videos to different Explorer folder so there could be no previous Thumbs.db file.

Question

Using the tools I have at my disposal (ffdshow, the Haali splitter configuration and the preferred filter tweaker for Windows 7), how can I get thumbnails in Windows Explorer 64-bit for .3gp and .webm files?

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  • Below, Hashbrown has the solution. I have used many thumbnail tweakers, such as K-Lite, even a couple more robust packs. I decided to give one more try with Icaros and it worked. @Hashbrown gets the credit.
    – ejbytes
    Commented Apr 26, 2019 at 23:04

3 Answers 3

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I use Icaros.

Once installed, you need to enable .webm and .3gp file extensions (things like .mkv are already there by default, no idea why these two are excluded).
Simply run the installed start menu item, hit Deactivate Icaros (so you can edit the options) and append ;.webm;.3gp to the Thumbnail Filetypes Registered input box.

From here you can disable filetypes if you wanted to stick to 'the idea being to only add what's missing and not replace what's already there from Microsoft'

Hit Activate Icaros and open a folder with those files in. Done!


It does some cool things like enables Windows to pull properties of the video, like length and resolution (so that it displays it at the bottom of File Explorer when selected, just like with .wmvs)

I can't quite remember, but I think it also performs things like black-frame-detection. Id est, if it thinks the thumbnail it chose initially is poor, like a really dark image, it will look for another frame to use instead.

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  • Yes, works. Finally! And thanks! I decided to log in to add this comment. I use K-Lite and tried Mega pack for K-Lite, and other hopefuls. This one worked.
    – ejbytes
    Commented Apr 26, 2019 at 23:06
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just by installing VLC player or K-Lite Mega Codec Pack I get thumbnails generated for me in Windows Explorer, some media formats needs to be permitted to be thumbnailed with the latter in its config...

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  • Why VLC Player AND K-Lite? VLC player brings it's own codecs afaik.
    – sinni800
    Commented May 17, 2011 at 9:41
  • @sinni800 actually its an OR not AND :)
    – amized
    Commented May 17, 2011 at 9:56
  • Ooooh. Sorry for that. I misread
    – sinni800
    Commented May 17, 2011 at 10:40
  • 1
    Using the tools I have at my disposal (ffdshow, the Haali splitter configuration and the preferred filter tweaker for Windows 7), how can I get thumbnails in Windows Explorer 64-bit for .3gp and .webm files? Commented May 18, 2011 at 6:46
  • 2
    I use K-Lite and Mega, and VLC, none of which fix webm thumbnails for PC.
    – ejbytes
    Commented Apr 26, 2019 at 23:05
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You could download a WebP codec to the WIC (Windows Imaging Component) https://developers.google.com/speed/webp/docs/webp_codec

This allows you to view WebP natively in applications that support WIC. Thumbnails needs a restart to work.

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  • 404 - not found, currently :(
    – JRr
    Commented Jun 3, 2020 at 4:59

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