Fix NS_E_WMPZIP_CORRUPT (0xC00D1019) in Windows Media Player

1. Corrupted or Renamed .wpl Playlist File (Most Common)

I've seen this error hundreds of times. Nine times out of ten, the problem is a .wpl playlist file that got corrupted during a save, a partial download, or someone renamed a regular file to .wpl thinking that'd make a playlist. WMP's ZIP reader tries to open .wpl files like a ZIP archive—because they are—and when the ZIP structure is broken, you get 0xC00D1019.

Where to look: Check your Music, Downloads, or Desktop folders for .wpl files. If you downloaded a playlist from a website and it's small (like 1KB or less), that's almost certainly the problem.

Fix it:

1. Close WMP completely.
2. Open File Explorer and navigate to %USERPROFILE%\Music and %USERPROFILE%\Downloads.
3. Search for *.wpl files. Sort by size—look for ones under 2KB.
4. Delete the suspicious .wpl files. Don't worry, WMP will recreate them if needed.
5. Restart WMP and try playing the media again.

If that doesn't work, rename the entire Playlists folder to force WMP to rebuild it:

rename "%USERPROFILE%\Music\Playlists" Playlists.bak

2. Corrupted Library Database (Less Common, But Happens)

Sometimes the error pops up even when no .wpl files are involved. The culprit here is the WMP library database. It gets corrupted after a sudden crash, disk write errors, or a system restore. WMP then tries to read a corrupted database entry, which triggers the ZIP reader error.

Fix it — Reset the library database:

1. Close WMP.
2. Press Win + R, type services.msc, and press Enter.
3. Find Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service — right-click and select Stop.
4. Now open File Explorer and go to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Media Player.
5. Delete everything inside that folder (not the folder itself). You'll see files like CurrentDatabase_*.wmdb and more.
6. Go back to services.msc, right-click the same service, and start it again.
7. Launch WMP — it'll rebuild the database. This takes a couple of minutes.

Note: You'll lose your play counts and custom playlists, but it beats the error.

3. Corrupted Media File (Rare, But Possible)

If neither of the above fixes it, the error is coming from a specific media file that WMP tries to read. This usually happens with .wma or .asf files that got truncated during a download. The ZIP reader inside WMP tries to unpack metadata from the file's header, and if that header is busted, you see 0xC00D1019.

Find the offending file:

1. Open WMP and check the Now Playing list — what file was queued when the error appeared?
2. If you can't tell, sort your library by Date Added or Date Modified and look for files that were recently downloaded or copied.
3. Try playing the suspect file in VLC or another player. If it fails there too, the file is toast.
4. Delete the file and re-download it from a trusted source.

Quick-Reference Summary