Last updated on January 23rd, 2024 at 02:33 am
RMVB stands for RealMedia Variable Bitrate.
It is a video container format developed by RealNetworks and carries the .rmvb extension.
As its name suggests, it is encoded with a variable bit rate.
The RMVB video format first hit the market in 2003, offering high-quality streaming video over various devices.
Over the years, it has fallen out of popularity, but folks do have an RMVB video or two from the past.
Little-Known But Popular
Today, in the digital video world where MP4 rules, you may not have heard of the RMVB format.
For your information, the format is popular in Asia, mostly used for anime movies.
Why? Because the RMVB video format offers smaller file sizes for better quality videos with lower bitrates compared to the Divx format.
How Do I Play RMVB Files?
There are three main ways to play the RMVB files – through the RealPlayer, Media Player Classic, and VLC Media Player.
RealPlayer
The free RealPlayer from the RMVB video format creators themselves is the perfect choice if you want to play an RMVB file without any issues.
RealPlayer also supports other formats like Adobe Flash (.swf), AVI (.avi, .divx) (if you have the Divx codec installed), QuickTime (.mov, .qt) and Windows Media (.wmv, .wma), among others.
Media Player Classic
If you already have Media Player Classic, also known as MPC-HC, all you have to do is download the Real Alternative 2.02 (at the time of writing) from CNET.
Once installed, your Media Player Classic should be able to play your RMVB file.
VLC Media Player
If you already have the VLC Player installed in your computer (you should have), then you don’t have to install any additional media player software to play a RMVB file.
VLC can play your RMVB file without the need to install an additional codec pack.
How to Open a RMVB File on Android
You can open an RMVB file over your Android device if you have the MX Player installed.
You can also use the VLC Media Player. This player is highly recommended. If you have it on your Android device, then you would not need any other media player.
How to Play RMVB on Windows Media Player
Windows Media Player doesn’t have native support for RMVB. If you try to play an RMVB file, you’ll get an error message.
If you insist on playing your RMVB file on your Windows Media Player, then you would have to go into the trouble of installing a codec pack like the K-Lite Codec Pack.
If you don’t fancy doing that, then you could do well to convert the RMVB file to a Window Media compatible file like WMV as a last resort
