What is wmv format. What is the WMV file extension? History of Windows Media Video

Further development of the format AVI. Developed by Microsoft at the very end of the 90s as part of an initiative Windows Media(creation of a set of hardware and software aimed at improving the multimedia capabilities of modern Windows-compatible computers). The very name of this format is translated as Windows Media - Video.

Video files saved in this format have the extension wmv or asf. (There is a special type of format - WMA (Windows Media - Audio), intended for storing sound, such files have the wma extension.) Compared to AVI format WMV has various additional features, in particular, means of protection against unauthorized copying.

Currently, this format is rapidly gaining popularity. It is used to distribute full-size films and video clips.

History of Windows Media Video

Windows Media Video is the name of a whole set of video codec technologies developed by Microsoft. It's part of the structure Windows Media. Codecs Windows Media Video were originally designed for low bit rate streaming applications. However, in 2003, Microsoft prepared specifications for a video codec based on Windows Media Video version 9, and submitted it to SMPTE for standardization. The standard was officially approved in March 2006 as SMPTE 421M, thereby making Windows Media Video 9"not private." Early versions of the codec (7 and 8) are still considered proprietary because they do not fit into the SMPTE 421M standards.

Windows Media Video Format

WMV built not only on Microsoft’s internal technology. It is believed that WMV version 7 (WMV1) based on Microsoft's custom version MPEG-4 Part 2. However, since WMV 9 was standardized as an independent SMPTE standard (421M, also known as VC-1), it is correct to believe that WMV has branched off enough in a different direction from MPEG-4 to be considered a unique codec in its own right. In April 2006, there were 16 companies holding the VC-1 patent. Microsoft is also a member of the MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 patent pool.

The video stream is usually combined with the audio stream Windows Media Audio and consists of Advanced Systems Format files with the .asf or .wmv extensions.

Files WMV played by MPlayer or Windows Media Player, the latter is only available for Microsoft Windows and Macintosh systems. There are many third party players for various platforms such as Linux that use the FFmpeg implementation in codecs WMV.

Mostly, WMV compressed in ASF container files. For storage WMV AVI or Matroska containers are also used. The resulting files are named .avi if it is an AVI container file, .wmv or .asf if it is ASF, .mkv if it is MKV files. WMV can be stored in AVI files if VirtualDub encoder and codec are used WMV9 VCM. Microsoft Windows Media Player for Mac does not support all WMV encoded files except the ASF container file. More files can be viewed using Flip4Mac and QuickTime or MPlayer for MacOS X.

WMV can support DRM facilities if compressed in ASF files.

In addition to being the most popular codec for transmitting video over the Internet, WMV is also used to distribute high-quality video on standard DVDs in a format Microsoft calls WMV HD (Windows Media Video High Definition). This format can be played on computers or compatible DVD players.

If you want to convert DVD, AVI, MP4 (MPEG-4), FLV, MPEG, MOV, 3GP and other videos to WMV, or vice versa, WMV to AVI, MP4, FLV or MPEG, then you are probably looking for a special WMV converter, which could transcode your video files and change their format. All this can be done by Movavi Video Converter - a program specifically designed to change the format of video files.

What is WMV?

The WMV format (short for Windows Media Video) was developed by Microsoft as an alternative to RealVideo. Video files with the WMV extension are among the smallest in size, but often have lower image quality due to the significant reduction in size due to lossy compression. The main application for playing WMV files is Windows Media Player, available on all platforms that support Windows, as well as Mac OS X.

Using a video converter, you can easily convert any video to WMV format, and by performing the reverse operation - converting WMV to MP4 - you can play video files on Android devices, Nokia and Samsung phones, Sony PSP and other gadgets. In addition, you can compress your video or change its resolution, and also extract the audio track from it and save it in MP3 format.

Download the video converter and try converting your videos to WMV in just a few minutes.

1. Install the program

Following the installation instructions, install Movavi Video Converter on your computer. The program has been translated into Russian, so its interface will not cause you any difficulties.

2. Add a video file

Click the button Add files and then select Add a video and add the video you want to convert to WMV or other format. You can select one or more files: Movavi Video Converter allows you to convert an entire video library in one operation.

3. Choose a format

Open a tab Video at the bottom of the interface and select the section WMV. You can select one of the ready-made profiles with standard parameters or specify your own parameters by clicking the button with the gear icon immediately below the formats ribbon.

Announcement

WMV Video File Format

WMV files are placed in an ASF - Advanced Systems Format container. These files often contain both Windows Media Video video data and Windows Media Audio audio data. WMV files may support the use of DRM protections, which prevent users from copying information. And it is precisely this characteristic that makes this format a popular product among companies selling digital copies of videos and audio recordings online. WMV files can be downloaded and viewed on both Mac and personal computers. The WMV format is the most recognizable format of its family, competing with certain types of MPEG-4 and Real Video. WMV files are used in online sales, on portable devices, Microsoft's Zune players, and on Xbox 360 devices.

Technical information about WMV files

WMV files are compressed using codecs developed by Microsoft. The ASF container format encodes data using the WMV codec. Windows Media Video 9 Professional codecs allow users to receive streams with a resolution exceeding 300,000 pixels (screen size from 528x576), as well as a bitrate of 1000 kbps. Such high performance makes WMV files an ideal solution for HD DVD and Blu-ray discs. WMV 9 Advanced Profile is not compatible with previous versions of WMV 9 formats. WMV 9 format is the default format for Microsoft Silverlight. In addition, WMV 9 is comparable to H.264 Main and High Profile formats, but does not support multiple reference frames or context-sensitive binary arithmetic coding (CABAC), among others. The difference between WMV 9 and competing formats is most noticeable at low bitrates.

Additional information about the WMV format

If you have installed on your computer antivirus program Can scan all files on your computer, as well as each file individually. You can scan any file by right-clicking on the file and selecting the appropriate option to scan the file for viruses.

For example, in this figure it is highlighted file my-file.wmv, then you need to right-click on this file and select the option in the file menu "scan with AVG". When you select this option, AVG Antivirus will open and scan the file for viruses.

Sometimes an error may occur as a result incorrect software installation, which may be due to a problem encountered during the installation process. This may interfere with your operating system link your WMV file to the correct application software, influencing the so-called "file extension associations".

Sometimes simple reinstalling CyberLink PowerDVD can solve your problem by properly linking WMV with CyberLink PowerDVD. In other cases, problems with file associations may result from bad software programming developer and you may need to contact the developer for further assistance.

Advice: Try updating CyberLink PowerDVD to the latest version to ensure you have the latest patches and updates.

This may seem too obvious, but often The WMV file itself may be causing the problem. If you received a file via an email attachment or downloaded it from a website and the download process was interrupted (such as a power outage or other reason), the file may become damaged. If possible, try getting a new copy of the WMV file and try opening it again.

Carefully: A damaged file can cause collateral damage to previous or existing malware on your PC, so it is important to keep your computer up-to-date with an up-to-date antivirus.

If your WMV file related to the hardware on your computer to open the file you may need update device drivers associated with this equipment.

This problem usually associated with media file types, which depend on successfully opening the hardware inside the computer, e.g. sound card or video card. For example, if you are trying to open an audio file but cannot open it, you may need to update sound card drivers.

Advice: If when you try to open a WMV file you receive .SYS file error message, the problem could probably be associated with corrupted or outdated device drivers that need to be updated. This process can be made easier by using driver update software such as DriverDoc.

If the steps do not solve the problem and you are still having problems opening WMV files, this may be due to lack of available system resources. Some versions of WMV files may require a significant amount of resources (e.g. memory/RAM, processing power) to properly open on your computer. This problem is quite common if you are using fairly old computer hardware and at the same time a much newer operating system.

This problem can occur when the computer is having difficulty keeping up with a task because the operating system (and other services running in the background) may consume too many resources to open the WMV file. Try closing all applications on your PC before opening Windows Media Video File. Freeing up all available resources on your computer will provide the best conditions for attempting to open the WMV file.

If you completed all the steps described above and your WMV file still won't open, you may need to run equipment update. In most cases, even when using older versions of hardware, the processing power can still be more than sufficient for most user applications (unless you're doing a lot of CPU-intensive work, such as 3D rendering, financial/scientific modeling, or intensive multimedia work) . Thus, it is likely that your computer does not have enough memory(commonly called "RAM" or random access memory) to perform the task of opening a file.

File extension	.wmv
File category
Example file	(33.9 MiB) (11.2 MiB)
Related programs	MPlayer Microsoft Windows Media Player PowerDVD RealPlayer VideoLAN VLC Media Player