Files with a WMV file extension are primarily associated with Microsoft Corporation and its Windows Media files. There are several programs however that captures this file extension and thus it is popular among audio, video and windows media applications, making it a well-liked file extension for various multimedia contents.
WMV actually stands for “Windows Media Video” and was formally introduced by Microsoft Corporation in the late 90’s. It was actually created to contend with other popular multimedia file extensions like MPEG-4, DIVX, and many other codecs. WMV however is widely used to encode low definition videos and even Blu-ray contents. It is one of the most popular multimedia file extension used to share video files in the internet.
The latest and the most advanced version of this format however is now supported by various devices like Microsoft Zune, Xbox 360 and each and every one of Windows Mobile devices. The cool new features of the latest version like interlaced video, non-square pixels and frame interpolation allows it to be popular amongst these devices.
Another feature of WMV files is its capacity to support DRM or Digital Rights Management which is a concern for many users around the world. Users can take advantage of this feature by including the contents of the WMV file with the ASF container format. This allows users to support subscription movie services and many other features.
Aside from Windows Media Player, real Player and Power DVD, below are more programs or applications that can play files with a WMV file extension:
| Mac OS | Apple Quick Time Player
Web browser with Flip4Mac WMV plugin Eltima Elmedia Player |
| Windows | Nullsoft Winamp Media Player
Roxio Creator Xilisoft Video Converter Ultimate Web browser with the Windows Media player plugin |
