Windows media player free download Archives

Windows Media Video (WMV) is a series of video codecs and their corresponding video coding formats developed by Microsoft. It is part of the Windows Media framework. WMV consists of three distinct codecs: The original video compression technology known as WMV, was originally designed for Internet streaming applications, as a competitor to RealVideo. The other compression technologies, WMV Screen and WMV Image, cater for specialized content. After standardization by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE),^[1][2] WMV version 9 was adapted for physical-delivery formats such as HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc and became known as VC-1.^[3][4] Microsoft also developed a digital container format called Advanced Systems Format to store video encoded by Windows Media Video.

History[edit]

In 2003, Microsoft drafted a video compression specification based on its WMV 9 format and submitted it to SMPTE for standardization. The standard was officially approved in March 2006 as SMPTE 421M, better known as VC-1, thus making the WMV 9 format an open standard. VC-1 became one of the three video formats for the Blu-ray video disc, along with H.262/MPEG-2 Part 2 and H.264/MPEG-4 AVC.^[3][4]

Container format[edit]

A WMV file uses the Advanced Systems Format (ASF) container format to encapsulate the encoded multimedia content. While the ASF can encapsulate multimedia in other encodings than those the WMV file standard specifies, those ASF files should use the file extension and not the file extension.^{[5][failed verification]}

The ASF container can optionally support digital rights management using a combination of elliptic curve cryptography key exchange, DES block cipher, a custom block cipher, RC4 stream cipher and the SHA-1 hashing function.

Although WMV is generally packed into the ASF container format, it can also be put into the Matroska^[6] container format (with file extension ), or AVI container format (extension ). One common way to store WMV in an AVI file is to use the WMV 9 Video Compression Manager (VCM) codec implementation.^[7][8]

Video compression formats[edit]

Windows Media Video[edit]

Diagram illustrating the relative frame sizes of several common video resolutions targeted by Windows Media Video 9 Professional, starting with 480p.

Windows Media Video (WMV) is the most recognized video compression format within the WMV family. Usage of the term WMV often refers to the Microsoft Windows Media Video format only. Its main competitors are MPEG-4 AVC, AVS, RealVideo, and MPEG-4 ASP. The first version of the format, WMV 7, was introduced in 1999, and was built upon Microsoft's implementation of MPEG-4 Part 2.^[9] Continued proprietary development led to newer versions of the format, but the bit stream syntax was not frozen until WMV 9.^[10] While all versions of WMV support variable bit rate, average bit rate, and constant bit rate, WMV 9 introduced several important features including native support for interlaced video, non-square pixels, and frame interpolation.^[11] WMV 9 also introduced a new profile titled Windows Media Video 9 Professional,^[12] which is activated automatically whenever the video resolution exceeds 300,000 pixels (e.g., 528 px × 576 px, 640 px × 480 px or 768 px × 432 px and beyond) and the bitrate 1000 kbit/s^{[citation needed]}. It is targeted towards high-definition video content, at resolutions such as 720p and 1080p.

The Simple and Main profile levels in WMV 9 are compliant with the same profile levels in the VC-1 specification.^[13] The Advanced Profile in VC-1 is implemented in a new WMV format called Windows Media Video 9 Advanced Profile. It improves compression efficiency for interlaced content and is made transport-independent, making it able to be encapsulated in an MPEG transport stream or RTP packet format. The format is not compatible with previous WMV 9 formats, however.^[14]

WMV is a mandatory video format for PlaysForSure-certified online stores and devices, as well as Portable Media Center devices. The Microsoft Zune, Xbox 360, Windows Mobile-powered devices with Windows Media Player, as well as many uncertified devices, support the format.^[15]WMV HD mandates the use of WMV 9 for its certification program, at quality levels specified by Microsoft.^[16] WMV used to be the only supported video format for the Microsoft Silverlight platform, but the H.264 format is now also supported starting with version 3.^[17]

Windows Media Video Screen[edit]

Windows Media Video Screen (WMV Screen) are video formats that specialise in screencast content. They can capture live screen content, or convert video from third-party screen-capture programs into WMV 9 Screen files. They work best when the source material is mainly static and contains a small color palette.^[18]

One of the uses for the format is computer step-by-step demonstration videos. The first version of the format was WMV 7 Screen. The second version, WMV 9 Screen, supports VBR encoding in addition to CBR.^[18] Additionally there is MSA1 (aka “MS ATC Screen codec” or “MSS3”) which is used in Live Meeting 2007. FourCCs for the formats are , and .^[19]

Windows Media Video Image[edit]

Windows Media Video Image (WMV Image) is a video slideshow format. The format works by applying timing, panning and transition effects to a series of images during playback.^[20] The codec achieves a higher compression ratio and image quality than WMV 9 for still images as files encoded with WMV Image store static images rather than full-motion video.

Since the format relies on the decoder (player) to generate video frames in real-time, playing WMV Image files even at moderate resolutions (e.g. 30 frames per second at 1024 px × 768 px resolution) requires heavy computer processing. The latest version of the format, WMV 9.1 Image, used by Photo Story 3, features additional transformation effects, but is not compatible with the original WMV 9 Image format.^[20]

Hardware support for WMV Image is available from Portable Media Centers, Windows Mobile-powered devices with Windows Media Player 10 Mobile.^[15]

Since no known domestic DVD player supports this format, users of Photo Story 3 wishing to generate material capable of being played in a DVD player will first have to convert to MPEG-2 before burning a DVD (average file sizes in MPEG-2 are 5 to 6 times the .wmv file).

Versions[edit]

Audio compression formats[edit]

The audio format used in conjunction with Windows Media Video is typically some version of Windows Media Audio, or in rarer cases, the deprecated Sipro ACELP.net audio format. Microsoft recommends that ASF files containing non-Windows Media formats use the generic file extension.

Players[edit]

Software that can play WMV files includes Windows Media Player, RealPlayer, MPlayer, Media Player Classic, VLC Media Player and K-Multimedia Player. The Microsoft Zune media management software supports the WMV format, but uses a Zune-specific variation of Windows Media DRM which is used by PlaysForSure. Many third-party players exist for various platforms such as Linux that use the FFmpeg implementation of the WMV format.

On the Macintosh platform, Microsoft released a PowerPC version of Windows Media Player for Mac OS X in 2003,^[23] but further development of the software has ceased. Microsoft currently endorses the 3rd party Flip4Mac WMV, a QuickTime Component which allows Macintosh users to play WMV files in any player that uses the QuickTime framework, free of charge to view files but chargeable to convert formats.^[24] The WMV installer is bundled with Microsoft Silverlight by default, installation without Silverlight can be accomplished with a "Custom" install. According to the Flip4Mac website, WMV files with DRM encryption are not compatible with the component.

Encoders[edit]

Many programs can export video in WMV format; a few examples are Windows Movie Maker, Windows Media Encoder, Microsoft Expression Encoder, Sorenson Squeeze,^[25]Sony Vegas Pro,^[26]AVS Video Editor, VSDC Free Video Editor, Telestream Episode, Telestream FlipFactory^[27][28], and FFmpeg.

Programs that encode using the WMV Image format include Windows Media Encoder, AVS Video Editor, and Photo Story.

Digital rights management[edit]

While none of the WMV formats themselves contain any digital rights management facilities, the ASF container format, in which a WMV stream may be encapsulated, can. Windows Media DRM, which can be used in conjunction with WMV, supports time-limited subscription video services such as those offered by CinemaNow.^[29] Windows Media DRM, a component of PlaysForSure and Windows Media Connect, is supported on many modern portable video devices and streaming media clients such as the Xbox 360.

Criticism[edit]

WMV has been the subject of numerous complaints from users and the press. Users dislike the digital rights management system which is sometimes attached to WMV files.^[30] The loss of the ability to restore licenses for WMV files in the Windows Media Player 11 was not positively received.^[30] The Microsoft Zune does not support the standard Windows Media DRM system, so that protected WMV files cannot be played.^[31]

See also[edit]

• JPEG XR/HDHD, an image file format and format developed by Microsoft

References[edit]

External links[edit]

With 7-Zip installed and your computer rebooted, open My Computer and find the downloaded installer for Windows Media Player 11. If you right-click on it you'll see a new context menu item labelled 7-Zip. If you hold your mouse over 7-Zip you'll see several options, including one to Extract Here. Select it and 7-Zip will extract the files in the archive. You should end up with a folder containing many files, including the ones the WMP 11 installer would have used to install the program. We'll run these programs ourselves to achieve the same results.

Which Programs To Run

Start by double clicking on the program called wmp11.exe. Depending on your Windows settings it may display as just wmp11, with no extension visible. This will install the main Windows Media Player components. When it finishes you'll be prompted to reboot your computer. Make sure you do this before moving on to the next step.

When your computer is restarted you'll need to run three more programs from the extracted archive - umdf.exe wmdbexport.exe wmfdist11.exe. Once again you'll have to reboot when you're done.

Extract More Files

Like the main WMP installer, several of the files extracted from it are also archives. One of them, wmp11.exe, contains another program we need to run manually. Like the main installer, we can extract the files to select the specific one we need to run. If you extract to the same directory, as we did before, you'll be asked whether you want to overwrite several files. You can answer Yes To All in order to avoid being asked multiple times. Otherwise you can extract to a different folder to avoid it altogether.

Once the files are extracted you should have a new folder called update. In that folder is a program called update.exe, or simply update. Once it runs you're ready to run Windows Media Player 11. I've personally testing the Netflix streaming video service and can verify that it works after this installation process. I can also vouch for Media Center not working afterward, so make sure you have an alternative in place before attempting this.

1. Introduction
2. Manual Installation of Windows Media Player

Tips for Improving Windows Media Player Performance

If you are experiencing drop-outs in the audio stream, you may need to change some settings on your Windows Media Player. The default configuration for WMP is only a 3 second buffer and it uses UDP, which is not error-correcting. Here's how to fix it:

Version 6.x

1. Click on any archived program to Start the Player.
2. After it has started to play, click the STOP button.
3. Go to the menu View --> Settings --> Windows Media Source Filter.
4. Change the Buffering to Buffer and enter 15 seconds.
5. Under Protocols, Uncheck the UDP option.
6. Click OK, (or Press Enter) then EXIT/QUIT the player.
7. Restart the player by clicking on an audio link.

New Version 7.0

1. Open version 7 of Media Player to its expanded screen position
2. Click on Tools located in the upper left corner task tray.
3. Click on Options and inside that click Performance.
4. Set the Network buffering to 15.
5. Click open Network and uncheck UDP.
6. Before closing up the Options screen click OK.
7. Click OK, (or Press Enter) then EXIT/QUIT the player.
8. Restart the player by clicking on an audio link.

This will increase the buffer size and will force the player to use an error-checking protocol instead of the non-error-checking protocol.

If you want to tailor the Frequency Response of the audio, you can set up the equalizer, Go to View --> Settings --> Windows Media Audio Decoder. I've found the following setting helps remove some of the digital artifacts of the high frequency sounds. Set the 19.2K and 9.8K sliders all the way down, and set the 4.8K slider about half way down. If you listen to other higher bandwidth content, don't forget to reset these settings for that content. In the latest version of Media Player simply bring up the Equalizer & pre set for "Acoustic", for the very best listening tone.

Important News About The "Grass Roots" Audio Archive

In a further effort to improve the quality of service, increase the quality of the audio signal and to lower the cost of delivery to you, all audio archives will be streamed in  Window Media Player format.

The quality of the audio of the new Windows Media Player, using the same bitstream rate, is considerably better than the Real Player. We can now get a much better sounding audio signal to you, using the Windows Media Player at a low speed dial-up modem bitrate. You may have already enjoyed the better sounding Windows Media Player LIVE stream.

Furthermore, all of the software used to prepare the archives files, to serve the files and play the files are freely available from Microsoft at no charge to you or us. In order to be able to provide the archives at no cost to you, we need to take advantage of any cost saving measures available to us also. It is a win-win-win situation, lower cost for us, lower cost to you, and it is better sounding! You'll also be able to listen to the program using the Radio Bar feature of Internet Explorer.

NOTE: Windows Media Player is now available for the MAC and Web-TV!

Help Notes For Users Of Apple Computers

In Internet Explorer go to Ragamuffin Radio Central:http://www.ragamuffin.fsbusiness.co.uk/ragaradiohome.htm

"Right click" (on a four button mouse) on any of The "Grass Roots Hour" (option-click if you are button impaired)  Streaming LINKS, then "save link to disk".  This creates a "Ragamuffin Link wma file" on your desktop.

If you already have a version of Media Player installed upon your Apple machine: *manually* start Windows Media Player, once  started up, from it's menu opened the local "local Ragamuffin Link wma File on your Desktop.  It will connect, began to buffer, and eventually started playing -  normally.

If you do not already have a copy of Windows Media Player installed upon your Apple machine. Download a copy of the Media Player free, from the following address: http://windowsmedia.com/mg/home.asp.  On this link download the latest player: version 7.1.

Iinstall the new player as instructed.  Also rebuild your desktop (hold down option and command during boot-up).  Start Internet Explorer & go to Ragamuffin Central:  http://www.ragamuffin.fsbusiness.co.uk/ragaradiohome.htm Click on the "Grass Roots Hour" link, it will start up Media Player, connect, buffer, and start to play all on it's own.

Notice in the README's :  Version 7. of  Media Player is not compatible with Carbon, which means if you are running your Mac under OS X, you'll have to start the media player in the "Classic" environment.

In Netscape 4.75. Go to exactly the same web page link for Ragamuffin Central link. Netscape will correctIy start up the Windows Media Player, but you will get a  "Cannot continue playing. Invalid or corrupt data was encountered" message in
the Player window.  Accordingly,  option-click to "save link as" and save the wma file locally to your Desk Top as above. You will  then be able to open it manually from Media Player (actually, after re-building the desktop, you only have to double click on the saved "Ragamuffin wma Link File on the desktop and it will correctly start and load Windows Media Player).  It then will play the web cast right through!

Thanks for your understanding and patience.

"The Ol' Silver Fox".