What is a WMV file?
WMV stands for Windows Media Video. Microsoft created it around 1999, and for about ten years it was the default video format on Windows. Windows Movie Maker saved projects as WMV, many webcams and screen recorders used it, and a lot of company training videos and school recordings from that time are still WMV files today.
Inside a .wmv file there is an ASF container (Advanced Systems Format) with a video stream in one of the Windows Media codecs (WMV7, WMV8, WMV9 or VC-1) and a sound track in WMA. Files with the .asf extension use the same container, so you can add them here as well.
Where WMV plays and where it does not
| Device or app | Plays WMV? |
|---|---|
| Windows Media Player and the Media Player app on Windows 10 and 11 | Yes |
| QuickTime, iMovie, Final Cut Pro on Mac | No |
| iPhone and iPad | No |
| Android phones | Only with some third-party players |
| Web browsers (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari) | No |
| Smart TVs | Some models, often without sound |
In short: WMV works well on Windows and almost nowhere else. That is why most people convert it.
Which format should you choose?
- MP4 is the safe choice. It plays on phones, Macs, TVs, browsers and social networks. Start with WMV to MP4 if you are not sure.
- MOV suits people who edit on a Mac in iMovie or Final Cut Pro.
- WEBM is for putting video on a website.
- MKV fits a home media library such as Plex, Kodi or VLC.
- AVI, MPEG and 3GP are for older DVD players, TVs and basic phones that cannot read anything newer.
- GIF makes a short silent loop for chats, slides and documents.
If you only need the sound, for example from a recorded lecture, use one of the audio pages such as WMV to MP3.
How the conversion works
No web browser can decode Windows Media codecs by itself. This page therefore loads a built-in converter engine (ffmpeg, compiled to run inside the browser). It reads the WMV file, decodes every frame and encodes it again in the target format. Because each frame is re-encoded, converting WMV takes longer than, for example, changing an MP4 into a MOV. Long or high-resolution files can take several minutes, so keep the tab open until the progress bar finishes.
Your files stay on your device the whole time. After the page has loaded, it also works without an internet connection.
Common problems with WMV files
- Protected files. Some WMV files bought or downloaded years ago use Windows Media DRM. They are locked to a licence, and no converter can open them legally.
- Jerky video or sound out of sync. Old screen recorders often wrote a variable frame rate. Set a fixed frame rate, such as 30 fps, in the options.
- Small, blurry picture. Many WMV clips are 320×240 or 640×480. Keeping the original resolution gives the cleanest result; making it bigger does not add detail.
- Large result. Lower the quality preset or the resolution, or run the file through Compress Video afterwards.