Can VLC play WMV video files?

Before going down to brass tacks, we should first get to know something about VLC. It is currently one of the most popular multimedia players that can virtually play a wide selection of file formats. And its cross-platform feature makes it perform well whenever on Windows, Mac or Linux platform.

If you have a WMV video file, probably obtained from your friend's share or downloaded from a website online, you might be wondering if VLC is able to play your WMV file. Most of the time, when you want to play a .wmv video file with VLC media player, you just open it in VLC window and it plays. However, sometimes you may get an error message that says the file is not supported. Before you panic, there are a few things you can try on your own to fix it.

Obtain the Correct Codec

WMV playback issue in VLC can be due to different factors, but one of most common factors is the codec related. Given there is no standard in digital video world, it is not perhaps surprising that the VLC media player might not include the appropriate codec to decode the WMV files. If that's the case, all you need is upgrade your VLC player to the latest version to house the codecs you need.

Download the latest VLC here: https://www.videolan.org/vlc/

Convert the WMV to a More Accessible Format

The second cause that leads to the wmv fails in playing with VLC is the .wmv file is corrupted. To fix this, you can try converting the WMV file into another common format such as MP4, MOV, or AVI that VLC accepts well. For such kinds of tasks, we suggest Video Converter.

It's a handy and reliable tool that can convert movie files into a wealth of video and audio formats. And it is capable of batch converting several video files at a time. What's more, you are able to edit your video files as you like through its editing filters.

Now, let's move to the quick guide on how to convert WMV files so that you can then play it on VLC or any other video player.

Step 1: Import WMV source

In the opening window, click the "Add File" button on the menu bar, then you can browse for the location of the WMV files you want to convert and load them.

Step 2: Select output format

Go ahead and click the "Profile" drop-down list on the bottom place of the screen. From the "General Video" category, select the format you want.

If you have the necessity of playing their videos on mobile devices, there are a group of preset profiles for you to choose from. All you need to do is select that preset, and this software will automatically optimize all settings to be suitable for that device you wish play the video on.

Step 3: Start conversion

Finally when you are ready, just hit "Convert" button at the bottom corner of the window to start the process of converting WMV files.

Once the WMV conversion is done, you can open the new converted file and check if it plays in VLC player or other chosen devices.

Tips & Tricks

This utility is not only designed to support the conversion of WMV files, but also conversions between varieties of many other formats, such as MOV to MP4, AVI to M4V, MTS to MOV, etc. For those who are using a Windows computer, its PC version even adds useful downloading function to help you get video and audio files off from online sites.