You may be visiting your favorite freeware site only to run across a notation for a free DVD decoder. Should you download it? The answer to this question may surprise you, when you consider that usually a DVD decoder is part of your Windows Media Player or any other media player you may downloaded earlier. Yet sometimes it appears that while your system is ready to play the DVD, it is missing the actual DVD decoder package which has either become deleted or has simply not been loaded.

While the word of wisdom holds that free is not always what it is cracked up to be, in the case of the DVD decoder this adage might be outdated or play wrong. Take for example the CODECS from Theorica Software that is one of many free DVD decoders. It will play DivX and MPEG-4 video files with no problem. This DVD decoder is actually the freeware download of choice for shareware junkies and many have commented on the fact that this little DVD decoder function is a no nonsense version.

Other DVD decoders that are available online for free may also advertise themselves as free software DVD decoders, but you need to make sure that it is indeed a freeware DVD decoder and not just a trial version of a commercial DVD decoder download. Sadly the line of advertisement has blurred a bit, and even programs that are only free temporarily are now being advertised as freeware – the duration of the free trial is quite often mentioned in passing and many a computer user is not aware of this stipulation until they have downloaded the file, configured their system, and are suddenly asked for a credit card number.

Avoid this frustration by making sure that your DVD decoder download is indeed free of charge for the duration of its useful life. To find some great DVD decoder free for the taking, simply read the reviews that are oftentimes posted on the sites that host the download links. More often than not a free downloadable DVD decoder will receive a lot of attention and consumers tend to be brutally honest when it comes to outing bugs, problems, and any perceived headaches that interfere with the enjoyment of the free DVD decoder download. As always when downloading a piece of freeware, make sure that you have checked out the source and read the reviews to avoid the inadvertent download of a Trojan, worm, or virus.