>>Knowledge>>WMVWhat is WMV
WMV (Windows Media Video) is a popular stream media format developed by Microsoft. Initially, WMV was designed to be used by Internet streaming applications to compete with RealVideo. Much the same as ASF (Advanced Systems Format), WMV files are usually packed into ASF(the files extension are .wmv or .asf.) while some of them will be stored in the AVI container. What excels ASF is that WMV offers support to synchronized downloading during the playback for the same video quality. Besides, one of the most stunning advantages of WMV format is that it can compress a large video file into smaller one but with the original high quality preserved. That’s why many online radio stations are using WMV format to help deliver the data flow.
Currently, there are several programs out there offer support to the WMV video files: Windows Media Player, RealPlayer, PowerDVD, MPlayer, ALLPlayer, VLC Media Player, The KMPlayer, Zoom Player and Media Player Classic). Moreover, some media devices such as Microsoft Zune, Xbox 360, mobile phones with Windows Mobile accept WMV format as well.
Have to mention that, WMV-HD which adapts WMV9 standard is the latest version of Microsoft’s video compressing technology. Just like WMV, WMV-HD files are usually names as .wmv, but WMV-HD has got higher compression rate than that of MPEG-2. For example, a 2-hour TV show can be compressed to be 30GB by MPEG-2 while it can be less than 15GB by using WMV-HD for keeping the same high quality.
To make a brief summary, the main features and advantages of WMV are as bellow:
1. Compress large video file to smaller one without losing any quality.
2. Supports variable bit rate, average bit rate, and constant bit rate
3. Offer supports to lots of popular portable video devices
4. Compatible with many third-party media players which use FFmpeg
5. WMV 9 codec an open but proprietary standar
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