Windows Media Video

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Windows Media Video (WMV) is a generic name for the set of video codec technologies developed by Microsoft. It is part of the Microsoft Windows Media framework.

1 Windows Media Video File Format
2 Windows Media Video Codecs
- 2.1 Overview and History
- 2.2 Versions
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Windows Media Video File Format

**Windows Media Video**
File extension:	`.wmv`
MIME type:	`video/x-ms-wmv`
Uniform Type Identifier:	com.microsoft.windows-media-wmv
Developed by:	Microsoft
Type of format:	video file format

WMV (*.wmv) files use a subset of Microsoft's Advanced Systems Format (ASF) container format. These files can be played by players such as MPlayer or Windows Media Player, the latter being only available for Microsoft Windows and Macintosh systems. Many third-party players exist for various platforms such as Linux that use the FFmpeg implementation of the WMV codecs.

The video codec used within .wmv files is Windows Media Video. The audio codec would be either Windows Media Audio or the Sipro ACELP.net audio codec.

[edit] Windows Media Video Codecs

[edit] Overview and History

The codecs were originally developed as proprietary codecs for low-bitrate streaming applications. However, in 2003 Microsoft drafted a video codec specification based on its Windows Media Video version 9 codec and submitted it to the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) for standardization. The standard was officially approved in March 2006 as SMPTE 421M, thus making the Windows Media Video 9 codec no longer a proprietary technology. Earlier versions of the codec (7 and 8) are still considered proprietary as they fall outside the SMPTE 421M standard.

WMV is not built solely on Microsoft in-house technology. It is believed that WMV version 7 (WMV1) was built upon Microsoft's own non-standard version of MPEG-4 Part 2. However, as WMV version 9 has been standardized as an independent SMPTE standard (421M, also known as VC-1), it's reasonable to believe^{[citation needed]} that WMV has sufficiently evolved in a different direction than MPEG-4 to be considered a unique codec in its own right. There are currently (April 2006) 16 companies in the VC-1 patent pool. Microsoft is also one of the members of the MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 patent pool.

The video stream is often combined with an audio stream of Windows Media Audio and encapsulated in Advanced Systems Format files, carrying the .wmv or .asf file extensions.

WMV is generally packed into an Advanced Systems Format (ASF) container format. It can also be put into AVI or Matroska containers. The resulting files may be named .avi if it is an AVI-contained file, or .wmv or .asf if it is an ASF file, or .mkv if it is an MKV file. WMV can be stored in an AVI file when using the WMV9 VCM codec implementation. One common way to encode WMV in AVI is to use the VirtualDub encoder. Microsoft's Windows Media Player for the Mac does not support all WMV encoded files since it supports only the ASF file container. More files can be played with Flip4Mac and QuickTime or MPlayer for Mac OS X.

When encapsulated in ASF file format, WMV can support the controversial DRM restrictions.

Besides being a popular codec for distributing video on the Internet^{[citation needed]}, the codec is also used to distribute high definition video on standard DVDs in a format Microsoft has branded as WMV HD. This WMV HD content can be played back on computers or compatible DVD players.

[edit] Versions

Windows Media Video v7 (FourCC: WMV1)
Windows Media Screen v7 (FourCC: MSS1) - Optimized for low-bitrate screen captures
Windows Media Video v8 (FourCC: WMV2)
Windows Media Video 9 (FourCC: WMV3)
Windows Media Video 9 Screen (FourCC: MSS2)
Windows Media Video 9 Advanced Profile (FourCC: WMVA) (deprecated as not VC-1 compliant)
Windows Media Video 9 Advanced Profile (FourCC: WVC1)
Windows Media Video 9 Image (FourCC: WMVP)
Windows Media Video 9.1 Image v2 (FourCC: WVP2)

[edit] See also

VC-1 - The SMPTE codec standard based on WMV9 but expanded to support video and broadcast industry requirements.
MPlayer - A third-party open source cross-platform media player capable of playing many WMV files using FFmpeg.
FFmpeg - A third-party cross-platform free software codec library which implements WMV and VC-1 among other formats.
Windows Media Audio
Windows Media Photo
WMV Player - A third-party commercial codec which allows viewing of WMV files in QuickTime for Mac OS X.
Flip4Mac - QuickTime component to play and encode Windows Media files in QuickTime (Mac OS X)
Windows Movie Maker - A video editing tool included with Windows XP.
Windows Media DRM - A Digital Rights Management component of Windows Media technologies commonly associated with the WMV format that restricts the user's rights of accessing his media content.
WMV HD - the marketing name for high definition videos encoded using Microsoft Windows Media Video 9 codecs.