View playback statistics in Windows Media Player

Applies to all editions of Windows Vista.
Which edition of Windows Vista am I using?

You can view statistics in Windows Media Player about digital media files that you play, including information about the quality of file playback, frames dropped for video, your network's bandwidth, and the bit rate of the file that you are playing.

1.	Begin playing a file.
2.	Click the View menu, and then click Statistics. If the View menu is not visible, show the Classic Menus.
3.	In the Statistics dialog box, click the Basic tab to view the bit rate of the file being played or the bandwidth of the content that is being streamed.
4.	Click the Advanced tab to view information about the quality of the file that is being played (bit rate or video information) or the content that is being streamed (connection and packet information). When you receive a stream from the Internet, the value that appears in Bandwidth in use may be higher than the value that is shown in Selected bit rate. This occurs because Bandwidth in use includes the total bandwidth, including overhead bandwidth that is used for the stream and for network traffic. Selected bit rate includes only the actual bit rate of the content that is being streamed.