How do I view (on my laptop) videos that were made on my canon compact digital camera?

First you need to transfer the video files from the camera to the computer.
(You can probably just connect the camera to the computer and view them like that, but moving them to the computer will be faster... )

To move the files: If you used an SD card in the camera when recording, take the card out of the camera and plug it into a card reader that is either built into the laptop, or a usb card reader that can be bought separately.

Once the card is plugged in, go to My Computer, find the card and go into it, find the video file/s and double click to open them. This will open them with a default video player for the type of video file.

If you didn't use a card, or if you don't have a card reader: You can connect the camera to the laptop via the cable that cam with the camera in the box. This might double as the charging cable and plugs into the usb port of your laptop.

Once plugged in, go to my computer and go into the camera (Might be listed as "Canon Powershot _____" or as a USB Mass Storage Device or something else)

Same process as the card, find the files and double click to open with the default program...


If the files open in Windows Media Player but don't play the you can try right clicking the file and opening with a different program. There should be a list to select from...

If after all this you still cannot get them to play, you should contact Canon to get their suggestions. Or, you can try downloading other video players or codec packs to make the files work in Windows Media Player...

I hope this helps, if you need me to clarify something just say so. :)

I just realized I didn't finish explaining how to move the files to the computer... When you find the file in my computer and in the card or camera, you can either right click and copy to another folder on the computer or you can drag and drop to that folder (Or the desktop, whichever you prefer)