How to Create WMV Files

By Alexis Lawrence

WMV stands for Windows Media Video. These standard Windows movie files utilize Windows Media compression, which makes them smaller in size than video types such as AVI. Creating WMV files is simple in Windows' standard video-editing software Movie Maker. Movie Maker works only on Windows-based systems, so if you would like to create WMVs on a Mac system, you'll have to create a different movie file type first and convert to WMV.

Open Windows Movie Maker. Import the media that you would like to use to create your WMV file. The button to import is marked "Import media". Movie Maker can read a variety of video, audio and image files, including AVI, WAV and JPEG. You can use any combination of video, audio and images to create a WMV file.

Arrange your footage in the Movie Maker timeline. To arrange your files, simply drag and drop them into the timeline. Video clips and image files should be pulled into the "Video" line. Audio clips should be pulled into the "Audio/Music" line.

Publish the Movie. The "Publish Movie" option appears under the "File" menu. When you click "Publish Movie" it will bring up a window for exporting your file. Click "Next" on the first screen and it will take you to a screen where you can title your WMV file and choose an output folder.

Type in a name for your WMV file in the box next to "File name". If you do not type in a new name, your file will default to the name "Movie". Click on the "Browse" button next to "Publish to" and search for the folder where you would like to save the WMV file. When you find the folder, click "OK". Click "Next" to proceed to the next screen.

Select WMV as your file type. Under "Choose the settings for your movie", choose the "More settings" option. Pull down the menu next to "More settings" and select one of the Windows media options. "Windows Media DVD Quality" is a good quality option that uses less space than many of the other choices. Click the "Publish" button at the bottom of the screen. Windows Movie Maker will create your WMV file and save it to the output folder you selected.

Use a file conversion website for creating WMV files on Mac computers. There are no Mac-based programs that can create WMV files. If you would like to convert to WMV on your Mac, you can use Media-Convert, an online file converter that works on a Mac. Create an MOV, AVI or MPG video file in the editing program of your choice. Upload that video file to Media-Convert. Select "Windows Media Video (.wmv)" from the list of available output formats and click "OK". Media-Convert will create a WMV file and provide a link for you to download it to your computer.

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