systems and methods remotely aggregate codecs , media player standards , or other media format access data such that a media player resident on a client device can access the content of media files of virtually any media format through a single universal media player having a graphical user interface . thus , the user need not utilize multiple media players or manually associate of media file types with the appropriate media player . the most recent versions of media formats are maintained remotely such that updates are provided via a network interface between the client device and the remote server . program modules that generate the universal media player are also remotely managed by the remote server such that the application is continually updated . whenever a user encounters a media file of a previously unencountered or unsupported media file type , the universal media player retrieves the appropriate media format access data to access the file .