.wmv files

Common questions

How do I open a .wmv file?

On Windows use Media Player (built in); on macOS use VLC; on Linux use VLC. Microsoft's legacy video format from the Windows XP era.

What is a .wmv file?

Windows Media Video. WMV is Microsoft's own video codec family in an ASF container, common in screen recordings and corporate video from the 2000s. Windows still plays it natively; everything else needs VLC, because Microsoft never supported the format outside Windows and Apple's old Flip4Mac plugin is long gone.

Can I convert a .wmv file?

Yes. It is usually converted to .mp4, .mkv, .avi or .mov, either by exporting from one of the programs listed above or with a format converter.

Related pages

• .mp4 — MPEG-4 Part 14 Video The default video container for phones, cameras, streaming and everything else.
• .mov — QuickTime Movie Apple's video container — what an iPhone records and what Final Cut works in.
• .mkv — Matroska Video An open container that holds any codec plus multiple audio tracks and subtitles.
• .avi — Audio Video Interleave Microsoft's 1992 video container, still common in old archives and camcorder foo
• .srt — SubRip Subtitle The plain-text subtitle format almost every player understands.
• .webm — WebM Video A royalty-free video container built for the web, based on Matroska.
• .ts — MPEG Transport Stream The broadcast and streaming video segment format — also, confusingly, the TypeSc
• .mpg — MPEG-1 / MPEG-2 Video The original MPEG video file, from Video CDs, DVDs and old digital cameras.
• .m4v — iTunes Video Apple's MP4 variant, used for films and TV episodes bought from iTunes.
• .vtt — WebVTT Caption The W3C caption format HTML5 video uses, essentially SRT with a header and styli
• .swf — Shockwave Flash Movie A Flash animation or game — the plugin that ran these was killed off at the end
• .mts — AVCHD Video The clip format written by Sony, Panasonic and Canon camcorders.