How to Combine MOV Files & Convert to WMV

The MOV format is the multimedia container for Apple’s QuickTime media player, while the WMV format is a video codec that is developed and owned by Microsoft. MOV files can be combined and converted to WMV format with QuickTime Pro. Also referred to as joining or merging, QuickTime Pro can combine multiple MOV files to stream sequentially in one file. The premium application is also equipped with encode functionality that can convert MOV files into different formats such as WMV.

Things You'll Need

• MOV files
• QuickTime Pro
• Windows Media Player

Instructions

Combine MOV Files & Convert to WMV

1. Download and install QuickTime Pro. Purchase the QuickTime Pro application from Apple’s online store and follow the download and installation instructions. If users already have the QuickTime media player installed on their computers, they can upgrade to QuickTime Pro by buying the license. To get the premium version, open the QuickTime media player and go to the “Help” tab on the program menu. Select “Buy QuickTime Pro” and the Apple Store’s product page will automatically launch. Follow the checkout instructions to initiate QuickTime Pro.

2. Open your first MOV file in QuickTime. Click the "Pause" button and move the playhead to the end of the clip. Select the second MOV file and drag it into the player window of the first MOV file. The second MOV file will be joined to the first MOV file. Drag any subsequent MOV files you want to combine.

3. Go to “File” and “Save As” in the QuickTime program menu. Navigate to your preferred saving location and name the combined files with a unique identifier to save the combined MOV files.

4. Open the recently saved QuickTime video of your combined MOV files. Go to “File,” and select “Export.” In the “Save exported file as:” window, choose the “Movie to Windows Media” option from the Export drop-down menu. Navigate to your preferred saving location and click “Save.” A status bar window will appear to display the file conversion progress. Once it reaches 100 percent, the window will close and the exported WMV file will be ready for use.

5. Open the WMV file in Windows Media Player (or QuickTime on Macs with the Flip4Mac plug-in installed). If the file’s video and audio tracks are completely intact, then the file conversion was a success. If the video does not stream like the combination MOV file, then attempt the WMV export again.

Tips & Warnings

• Users can apply custom settings to their exported WMV file by clicking on the “Options” button in the “Save exported file as:” window. This feature enables users to adjust A/V controls such as volume, frame size and bitrate.

References

• YouTube: Join Videos Using QuickTime Pro
• Apple: QuickTime; QuickTime Pro