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General discussion

.wma & .wmv files

Nov 18, 2005 5:39AM PST

I get a lot of emails from friends who use the Windows environment from their PCs. When they send me a .wma or .wmv (Windows Media Audio or Windows Media video), these do not play or stream out on the Mac. I seem to be losing out on seeing/hearing these with Quicktime or iTunes. Cant we get converters for these files to make them adible/ viewable on the Mac?

PS: I am working in the Tiger environment

Discussion is locked

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Windows Media Player for OS X
Nov 18, 2005 7:25AM PST

is available as a free download from the Microsoft web site.
You will find that you will still be losing out on seeing/hearing a lot of these files due to MS's inability to write code.

It sometimes works and often times doesn't. But it's free

P

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Continuing...
Nov 18, 2005 2:28PM PST

...where Pete left off.

If Windows Media Viewer won't open it, some times VLC still will. If VLC won't open it, Mplayer OSX might open it. You can get all three of these programs for free, and they all have one problem in common. You can't edit the video.

That is where "Flip for Mac" comes in. It's not free, but it will open most WMV files right in Quicktime, so you can save, edit, modify, and convert the file as you wish. It's a plug-in.
It doesn't open all WMV files. It doesn't even open as many as VLC, but it's the only way I know to edit a Windows Media Video on a Mac.

It has been my experience, that if none of these 4 apps will open it, it won't open on a PC either.

Lampie

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Durn
Nov 18, 2005 10:43PM PST

I keep forgetting about VLC, I use it too, and have been playing with the Flip4Mac program. Now that is quite good and may well be worth the money.

Thanks

P