Possible to get 5.1 into 2.1 operating properly?

I just went to watch a video file, recognized the sound was HORRIBLY bad, and finally realized it's in 5.1. My computer handles up to 7.1 but I only have a 2.1 setup. The sound is distorted and echoed as it's obviously coming out wrong since I have no sound problems elsewhere and I wanted to know if it's possible to force it or change it to play properly in 2.1. It's a .mkv file.

What is the audio encoded in? Are your speakers plugged in to the correct port? What sound card are you using? What player are you using?

Sorry I actually got the file elsewhere in a different encode, however, the other one has a huge resolution and better video quality.

Audio encoded in? I don't know..whatever .mkv file would have? I'm not sure how to answer that lol, stupid in this department. Speakers plugged in correctly, yup and everything else sounds fine. Sound card, onboard from a dell xps 410.(I know I know..prebuilt, oh well) And as for player, Zoomplayer, however WMP has the same problem and winamp(old, like 2.9 version is the one I use) won't play the mkv at all.

It's probably AAC. You may want to try downloading ffdshow, if you don't have it already, and letting it handle the decoding of AAC audio and MP4 video.

Try using VLC and setting audio channels to stereo. Also make sure windows is set to stereo speaker mode.