14 DAY TRIAL // The existing Windows 10 Technical Preview builds do not bring any changes in terms of visual improvements for the built-in media player, but it appears that Microsoft is silently making some tweaks under the hood of the app for better support of more features and formats in the new OS.
Microsoft has already confirmed that MKV support will be offered from the very beginning in Windows 10, and now it seems that the company is planning to extend the list of formats that will work on the new operating system by default.
Gabriel Aul, head of the Windows Insider program, says in a tweet today that SSA, ASS, and SRT subtitle support will be there in Windows 10, so watching movies on devices powered by the new OS might not require any additional piece of software anymore.
Subtitle support, which comes at the right time after the inclusion of MKV, previously required additional tweaking in Windows Media Player, especially in the case of some specific formats that, despite being extremely popular, weren't working with the built-in Windows tool.
Not yet available in Technical Previews
Although it's supposed to debut in the final version of Windows 10, the built-in subtitle support for Windows Media Player is not yet available in the existing Technical Preview versions that can be downloaded and installed freely by any registered Windows insider.
Right now, MKV files indeed work in Windows 10, but there are many other aspects to be taken care of for a smoother experience that wouldn't require additional software or tweaking.
Windows 10 is scheduled to see the light of day in the second half of 2015, so Microsoft still has plenty of time to add new features and improve the existing ones. Surprisingly, the company hasn't talked too much about changes that could be made to Windows Media Player despite the fact that there's plenty of feedback coming from users on this piece of software.
@PaulTheAnimeFan Yes we’ll have SSA, ASS, and SRT (UTF8 unformatted). Very exciting!
— Gabriel Aul (@GabeAul) March 30, 2015