About Windows Media Videos

Windows Media Video (WMV) is a video format that is native to the Windows Media platform. Although Windows media can stream other formats, WMV is the most common, and is easily streamable because of its large compression rate. The WMV format is also what is natively exported by the Windows Movie Maker program.

History

The Windows Media Video platform was launched in the mid-nineties as a video format designed for easy streaming. It featured a very high compression rate, and was able to stream much faster as a result. As high-speed Internet began to emerge, Windows Media Video files evolved, and began to focus on video quality rather than compression. However, its compression rate still remains one of ithe top features, and Microsoft has claimed that the format has a compression rate that is better than the ever-popular MPEG-4 format. Windows Media Video has most recently been used in both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD development.

Significance

Windows Media Video is very important as it seems to be increasing its dominance in the video encoding world. The WMV format had already established itself as a powerhouse in the online video world, but it is increasingly becoming more important in other video technologies as well. Since WMV is being used for high-definition projects, it seems to be emerging as a very relevant format in the wake of the last 10 years of MPEG dominance.

Benefits

There are several benefits to using Windows Media Video as a format. First of all, the compression rate gives the user a lot of flexibility with sending and storage options. Windows Media Video formatted videos also have a high level of player compatibility, and most modern video players support the format.

Theories/Speculation

The Windows Media Video format shows no sign of slowing down any time soon. With high-resolution versions already licensed for commercial use, many speculate that there may be a WMV-HD component in the new version of Windows Movie Maker, expected to ship with Windows 7 sometime in 2009. If this is the case, it would establish WMV as a practical consumer-friendly HD video solution.

Warning

Although it is very easy to create streaming movies in the Windows Movie Video format, it is very important that you do not create duplicates of copyrighted material. Although modern WMVs are free of Digital Rights Management components, it is still illegal to distribute copyrighted material online.

Resources

• WMV HD database