NS_E_TITLE_SIZE_EXCEEDED (0XC00D00D0): Title Too Long Fix

You're trying to play a song or video in Windows Media Player 12, and instead of music you get a popup with error code 0XC00D00D0. The player refuses to open the file. Nine times out of ten, this happens right after you've imported a podcast episode with a ridiculously long title—like "Episode 247: Interview with Dr. Smith about the long-term effects of..."—or a file from a poorly written media server that stuffed the metadata field with the entire file path.

I had a client last month whose entire music library went silent because one podcast episode had a title 400+ characters long. Windows Media Player can't handle titles over 256 characters. It's a hard limit baked into the old DirectShow framework that WMP still uses. The file is fine—the metadata is just too fat.

Why This Happens

The NS_E_TITLE_SIZE_EXCEEDED error (0XC00D00D0) means the title tag in the file's metadata exceeds the 256-character limit. This isn't a corrupt file—it's a metadata overflow. The file will play fine in VLC, MPC-HC, or even a web browser. But Windows Media Player chokes on it because its internal parser stops reading beyond the character cap.

Common triggers:

• Auto-downloaded podcast episodes with full show notes in the title
• Files ripped from YouTube with the entire video description as the title
• Media from older MP3 tagging software that appended file paths to the title
• Songs from badly maintained NAS servers that embed long network paths

How to Fix It

You need to shorten the title tag. No registry edits or driver updates needed. Here's the quick fix.

1. Find the problem file. Look at the error message—it usually shows the file name. If not, try playing files one at a time until the error pops up.
2. Open the file properties. Right-click the file and choose Properties. Go to the Details tab.
3. Shorten the Title field. Look for the Title entry. If it's longer than 256 characters, cut it down. Delete everything after the 250th character. Keep it under 256. A good rule: keep titles under 100 characters to avoid this issue with other software.
4. Click OK. That saves the change. Try playing the file again in WMP.

If the Details tab is grayed out or the file is protected, you'll need a tag editor. I use Mp3tag (free, works on MP3, WMA, M4A, and WMV). Open the file in Mp3tag, click the Title field, shorten it, and save.

Quick tip for multiple files: If a whole podcast season has this issue, use Mp3tag's Actions feature. Create an action that truncates the Title field to 250 characters. Apply it to the whole folder in one click.

Still Failing? Check These

If you shortened the title and WMP still throws the error, try these:

• Check other metadata fields. Some files have the same clobbered data in Artist, Album, or Comment fields. Those can also trip up WMP, though the error code says "title." Clear any field over 256 characters.
• Rename the file. Sometimes the filename itself gets stored as the title by buggy software. Rename the file to something short (under 100 characters), then open Properties and make sure the Title field doesn't auto-populate from the filename.
• Check file permissions. If the file is on a network share or read-only, WMP may not be able to read the metadata correctly. Copy the file to your local drive and try again.
• Use a different player. Honestly, if it's a one-off file and you don't care about WMP, just use VLC. It ignores the metadata entirely and plays the audio. But if you're syncing to a Zune or using WMP for a library, fix the metadata.

This fix works every time I've seen it. The error is just WMP being strict about old limits. Shorten the title, and you're done.