feat: Add Media Preview Handler for File Explorer (Issue #44094)

[ThanhNguyxn]

Summary

Implements media playback preview in File Explorer's preview panel, addressing #44094.

This enables users to preview audio and video files directly in File Explorer's preview pane with full playback controls.

Changes

New Projects

• MediaPreviewHandlerCpp (C++ DLL) - COM IPreviewHandler implementation
• MediaPreviewHandler (.NET EXE) - WebView2-based HTML5 media player with dark theme

Supported Formats

Type	Extensions
Video	.mp4, .avi, .mkv, .mov, .webm, .wmv, .m4v, .3gp, .3g2
Audio	.mp3, .wav, .flac, .m4a, .aac, .ogg, .wma

Modified Files

• shared_constants.h - Added MEDIA_PREVIEW_RESIZE_EVENT
• Constants.h/cpp/idl - Added MediaPreviewResizeEvent()
• logger_settings.h - Added media preview logger
• modulesRegistry.h - Added file extension registration
• PowerToys.slnx - Added projects to solution

---

TODO (Can be done in follow-up PRs)

1. Settings UI Toggle

Add enable/disable toggle in PowerToys Settings for Media Preview Handler.

Files to modify:

• src/modules/previewpane/powerpreview/powerpreview.cpp - Add settings handler
• src/settings-ui/ - Add UI toggle similar to other preview handlers

2. Installer Integration

Add files to WiX installer manifest.

Files to modify:

• installer/PowerToysSetup/Resources.wxs - Add MediaPreviewHandler files

3. Additional Format Support

Consider adding more formats:

• Video: .flv, .ts, .m2ts, .vob
• Audio: .aiff, .opus, .ape

4. Codec Handling

Add detection for missing codecs (e.g., HEVC/H.265) similar to Peek's GetMissingCodecAsync() in VideoPreviewer.cs.

5. Thumbnail Generation

Optionally add a MediaThumbnailProvider for generating video thumbnails (similar to SvgThumbnailProvider).

---

Checklist

• [x] Code follows existing patterns (SvgPreviewHandler)
• [x] Added to solution file
• [ ] Builds and runs locally
• [ ] Tests added
• [ ] Documentation updated

Fixes #44094

[github-actions[bot]]

@check-spelling-bot Report

:red_circle: Please review

See the :open_file_folder: files view, the :scroll:action log, or :memo: job summary for details.

Unrecognized words (4)

matroska MEDIAPREVIEWHANDLERCPP msvideo quicktime

These words are not needed and should be removed

CVS

To accept these unrecognized words as correct and remove the previously acknowledged and now absent words, you could run the following commands

... in a clone of the [email protected]:ThanhNguyxn/PowerToys.git repository on the feature/media-preview-handler branch (:information_source: how do I use this?):

curl -s -S -L 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/check-spelling/check-spelling/c635c2f3f714eec2fcf27b643a1919b9a811ef2e/apply.pl' |
perl - 'https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/actions/runs/19960237425/attempts/1' &&
git commit -m 'Update check-spelling metadata'

If the flagged items are :exploding_head: false positives

If items relate to a ...

• binary file (or some other file you wouldn't want to check at all).

  Please add a file path to the excludes.txt file matching the containing file.

  File paths are Perl 5 Regular Expressions - you can test yours before committing to verify it will match your files.

  ^ refers to the file's path from the root of the repository, so ^README\.md$ would exclude README.md (on whichever branch you're using).

• well-formed pattern.

  If you can write a pattern that would match it, try adding it to the patterns.txt file.

  Patterns are Perl 5 Regular Expressions - you can test yours before committing to verify it will match your lines.

  Note that patterns can't match multiline strings.

[github-actions[bot]]

@check-spelling-bot Report

:red_circle: Please review

See the :open_file_folder: files view, the :scroll:action log, or :memo: job summary for details.

Unrecognized words (4)

matroska MEDIAPREVIEWHANDLERCPP msvideo quicktime

These words are not needed and should be removed

CVS

To accept these unrecognized words as correct and remove the previously acknowledged and now absent words, you could run the following commands

... in a clone of the [email protected]:ThanhNguyxn/PowerToys.git repository on the feature/media-preview-handler branch (:information_source: how do I use this?):

curl -s -S -L 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/check-spelling/check-spelling/c635c2f3f714eec2fcf27b643a1919b9a811ef2e/apply.pl' |
perl - 'https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/actions/runs/19960943785/attempts/1' &&
git commit -m 'Update check-spelling metadata'

If the flagged items are :exploding_head: false positives

If items relate to a ...

• binary file (or some other file you wouldn't want to check at all).

  Please add a file path to the excludes.txt file matching the containing file.

  File paths are Perl 5 Regular Expressions - you can test yours before committing to verify it will match your files.

  ^ refers to the file's path from the root of the repository, so ^README\.md$ would exclude README.md (on whichever branch you're using).

• well-formed pattern.

  If you can write a pattern that would match it, try adding it to the patterns.txt file.

  Patterns are Perl 5 Regular Expressions - you can test yours before committing to verify it will match your lines.

  Note that patterns can't match multiline strings.

[github-actions[bot]]

@check-spelling-bot Report

:red_circle: Please review

See the :open_file_folder: files view, the :scroll:action log, or :memo: job summary for details.

Unrecognized words (4)

matroska MEDIAPREVIEWHANDLERCPP msvideo quicktime

These words are not needed and should be removed

CVS

To accept these unrecognized words as correct and remove the previously acknowledged and now absent words, you could run the following commands

... in a clone of the [email protected]:ThanhNguyxn/PowerToys.git repository on the feature/media-preview-handler branch (:information_source: how do I use this?):

curl -s -S -L 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/check-spelling/check-spelling/c635c2f3f714eec2fcf27b643a1919b9a811ef2e/apply.pl' |
perl - 'https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/actions/runs/19961051241/attempts/1' &&
git commit -m 'Update check-spelling metadata'

If the flagged items are :exploding_head: false positives

If items relate to a ...

• binary file (or some other file you wouldn't want to check at all).

  Please add a file path to the excludes.txt file matching the containing file.

  File paths are Perl 5 Regular Expressions - you can test yours before committing to verify it will match your files.

  ^ refers to the file's path from the root of the repository, so ^README\.md$ would exclude README.md (on whichever branch you're using).

• well-formed pattern.

  If you can write a pattern that would match it, try adding it to the patterns.txt file.

  Patterns are Perl 5 Regular Expressions - you can test yours before committing to verify it will match your lines.

  Note that patterns can't match multiline strings.

[github-actions[bot]]

@check-spelling-bot Report

:red_circle: Please review

See the :open_file_folder: files view, the :scroll:action log, or :memo: job summary for details.

Unrecognized words (2)

MEDIAPREVIEWHANDLERCPP troska

These words are not needed and should be removed

CVS

To accept these unrecognized words as correct and remove the previously acknowledged and now absent words, you could run the following commands

... in a clone of the [email protected]:ThanhNguyxn/PowerToys.git repository on the feature/media-preview-handler branch (:information_source: how do I use this?):

curl -s -S -L 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/check-spelling/check-spelling/c635c2f3f714eec2fcf27b643a1919b9a811ef2e/apply.pl' |
perl - 'https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/actions/runs/19961553281/attempts/1' &&
git commit -m 'Update check-spelling metadata'

If the flagged items are :exploding_head: false positives

If items relate to a ...

• binary file (or some other file you wouldn't want to check at all).

  Please add a file path to the excludes.txt file matching the containing file.

  File paths are Perl 5 Regular Expressions - you can test yours before committing to verify it will match your files.

  ^ refers to the file's path from the root of the repository, so ^README\.md$ would exclude README.md (on whichever branch you're using).

• well-formed pattern.

  If you can write a pattern that would match it, try adding it to the patterns.txt file.

  Patterns are Perl 5 Regular Expressions - you can test yours before committing to verify it will match your lines.

  Note that patterns can't match multiline strings.

[github-actions[bot]]

@check-spelling-bot Report

:red_circle: Please review

See the :open_file_folder: files view, the :scroll:action log, or :memo: job summary for details.

Unrecognized words (1)

troska

These words are not needed and should be removed

CVS matroska msvideo quicktime

To accept these unrecognized words as correct and remove the previously acknowledged and now absent words, you could run the following commands

... in a clone of the [email protected]:ThanhNguyxn/PowerToys.git repository on the feature/media-preview-handler branch (:information_source: how do I use this?):

curl -s -S -L 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/check-spelling/check-spelling/c635c2f3f714eec2fcf27b643a1919b9a811ef2e/apply.pl' |
perl - 'https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/actions/runs/19962024790/attempts/1' &&
git commit -m 'Update check-spelling metadata'

If the flagged items are :exploding_head: false positives

If items relate to a ...

• binary file (or some other file you wouldn't want to check at all).

  Please add a file path to the excludes.txt file matching the containing file.

  File paths are Perl 5 Regular Expressions - you can test yours before committing to verify it will match your files.

  ^ refers to the file's path from the root of the repository, so ^README\.md$ would exclude README.md (on whichever branch you're using).

• well-formed pattern.

  If you can write a pattern that would match it, try adding it to the patterns.txt file.

  Patterns are Perl 5 Regular Expressions - you can test yours before committing to verify it will match your lines.

  Note that patterns can't match multiline strings.

[crutkas]

@ThanhNguyxn please walk me through with screenshots how this was tested and verified on your end.