WMV Files

WMV (Windows Media Video) is an encoding system developed by Microsoft. The WMV file was first introduced in 1999. It is part of the greater Microsoft media encoding sector that includes ASF (Advanced System Format), WMA (Windows Media Audio), and HDP (High Definition Photo). It was originally created to compete with a rival internet streaming company, RealVideo.

Codecs

The WMV extension is most commonly used to refer to the WMV codec use. Nowadays, the WMV codec competes with other industry heads such as DivX and MPEG4. The first WMV codec supported native interlaced video support and frame interpolation. When the WMV 9 codec was introduced, it supported higher video resolutions up to 1080p. Natively integrated within the WMV9 codec was Windows Media Video 9 Professional, which became active when resolutions over 300,000 pixels were exceeded.

ASF Container

More often than not, WMV files are held within an ASF container. Typically, the audio codec coupled with WMV encoded files is some variation of a WMA codec. The WMV and WMA encoded files are housed within an ASF container that is then given a .WMV extension. This is merely for convenience and often causes confusion.

Digital Rights Management

Microsoft has come under heavy fire for its frequent use of DRM within WMV files. WMV files cannot technically house any type of DRM but rather, the ASF container in which they are held is capable of doing so. But, because the .WMV extension is given to ASF containers, it is often confused with the fact that the WMV file itself holds the DRM. The DRM within these files caused upset when it was discovered that Microsoft’s Zune Media Player was incapable of playing Microsoft’s own DRM encrypted WMV files.

Playing the Files

Playing WMV files is as simple as getting a player that has a WMV codec capable of decoding the video. Free software such as Windows Media Player, VLC Media Player, DivX, and Winamp are all capable of playing WMV files. If you are not running a Windows operating system on your computer, you can download the Windows Media Player for Macintosh or use VLC Media Player if you’re using a Linux machine.

Converting

Many customers were not satisfied with the WMV file and wanted to convert it. In conjunction with the WMV9 compression manager codec, it is possible to convert a WMV file over to an AVI file.

WMV HD

WMV HD is the name for high definition video files that are encoded using the WMV9 HD codec. It is possible to play video with a resolution of up to 1080p using the WMV9 codec. There are very high hardware requirements needed to play files encoded with the codec. WMV9HD was ported to a few commercially available high definition movies. Microsoft didn’t intend for its encoding process to be used commercially, but rather, only personally. Many of the WMVHD DVDs and HD-DVDs sold utilize Microsoft’s Windows Media DRM Protection.