DVR to WMV Converter

DVR-MS vs WMV — Two Microsoft Formats, One Container

Both of these are Microsoft video formats and both are built on the same ASF container, which makes the choice between them less obvious than it looks. A .dvr file is a DVR-MS recording written by Windows XP Media Center Edition, Vista, or Windows 7, holding MPEG-2 video and a broadcast audio track. A .wmv file is the same ASF wrapper carrying a Windows Media Video stream instead. The short answer: keep the DVR-MS if the file is only ever going back into Media Center, and convert to WMV when you need something an ordinary Windows machine, an old PowerPoint deck, or a legacy corporate video player will accept without a codec pack.

Side-by-side Comparison

When to Keep the DVR-MS File

• The recording still lives in a working Windows Media Center library and you want the program guide metadata intact.
• The broadcast was flagged as copy-protected — a DRM-locked recording will not transcode anywhere, so the original is all you have.
• You want the untouched MPEG-2 broadcast stream for archival, and any re-encode is a downgrade.
• The eventual target is a modern container anyway, in which case skip WMV and go straight to DVR to MP4.

When to Convert to WMV

• The file has to open on a Windows machine with no codec pack and no Media Center — WMV is the one video format shipped Windows can always play.
• You are embedding video into an older PowerPoint deck or a legacy corporate LMS that only accepts .wmv.
• You want the program metadata and DRM flags gone; re-encoding into a clean WMV strips both.
• The recording is huge and you would rather trade the MPEG-2 bitrate for something far smaller at a similar apparent quality.

How to Convert DVR to WMV

1. Upload Your DVR File: Drag the recording onto the page or click "+ Add Files". Multiple .dvr files can be queued and share one set of settings.
2. Pick the Video and Audio Codec: Under "Show All Options", "Video Codec" offers WMV 1 and WMV 2, with WMV 2 selected for a .wmv target; "Audio Codec" offers WMA v1 and WMA v2, with WMA v2 selected.
3. Choose a Compression Mode: "File Compression" opens on "Quality Preset" set to "Very High (Recommended)". The alternatives are "Specific file size", "Constant Bitrate", "Variable Bitrate", "Constant Quality", and "Constraint Quality". "Video resolution" and "Trim" sit below — Trim starts on "Unchanged" and reveals Start time and Duration boxes prefilled with 0 and 10 once you switch to "Time Range".
4. Convert and Download: Click Convert and save the WMV. Files upload over an encrypted connection, are processed on our servers, and are deleted automatically after a few hours. No sign-up, no watermark.

What the Codec Options Actually Encode

Windows Media Video 9 and VC-1 are decode-only in the encoder toolchain behind this page, which is why the list stops at WMV 2. If you need a modern codec, the answer is a different container rather than a newer WMV — see DVR to MKV or DVR to MP4.

Frequently Asked Questions

If both formats use ASF, is this just a rewrap?

No. The container is the same but the payload is not — DVR-MS carries MPEG-2 video and MP2 or AC-3 audio, while WMV carries a Windows Media Video stream and Windows Media Audio. Every stream is fully decoded and re-encoded, so plan on one generation of quality loss and choose a compression mode that leaves headroom.

Why does the codec list stop at WMV 2 instead of offering WMV 9 or VC-1?

Because encoding and decoding are not the same capability. The toolchain reads Windows Media Video 9 and SMPTE VC-1 perfectly well, but it can only write Windows Media Video 7 and 8. Those two are what the dropdown exposes. WMV 9 output would need Microsoft's own encoder, which is not part of an open toolchain.

Will the DRM on my recording carry over to the WMV?

If the recording is DRM-flagged, there is nothing to carry over — the conversion will not happen at all, because the protected stream cannot be decoded off the machine that recorded it. For unprotected recordings the opposite is true: the output WMV is a plain media file with no rights-management payload and no Media Center metadata attached.

Which compression mode should I choose for a two-hour show?

Start with "Quality Preset" on "Very High (Recommended)" and only move if the result is the wrong size. If you have a hard target — an email limit, a disc, an upload cap — use "Specific file size" and let the encoder solve for the bitrate. "Constant Bitrate" is the right pick when the file will be streamed at a known link speed, since it makes the data rate predictable rather than optimal.

Why is the Constant Quality slider 1 to 31 rather than 16 to 51?

Because WMV is an MPEG-4-family codec that uses a qscale, not the CRF scale H.264 popularised. On the 1–31 qscale, lower numbers mean better quality and bigger files, and useful values sit roughly between 2 and 8. Anything above about 15 will look visibly blocky on broadcast footage.

Does the conversion keep the 5.1 surround from the broadcast?

No — Windows Media Audio tops out at two channels, so a 5.1 AC-3 broadcast is downmixed to stereo during the encode. WMA is also restricted to 22.05, 32, 44.1, and 48 kHz, so a source at any other rate is resampled to 44.1 kHz. If preserving surround matters, convert to a container that can hold it, such as DVR to MKV.

Will the WMV play outside Windows?

Mostly. VLC, mpv, and ffmpeg-based players handle WMV 7 and 8 on every platform. What you cannot count on is native playback — macOS QuickTime, iOS, Android, and browsers do not decode Windows Media Video without third-party software. If any part of the audience is not on Windows, MP4 is the safer container.

Is converting to WMV still worth doing, or should I pick something else?

It is worth doing for exactly one reason: guaranteed playback on a plain Windows install or inside older Microsoft software. Outside of that case, WMV 8 is a codec from 2001 and gives up a lot of efficiency to anything modern — at a matched file size, H.264 or H.265 will look considerably better. Windows Media Center itself was discontinued and is not included in Windows 10 or later, so if you are converting these recordings for long-term keeping rather than for a specific old application, DVR to MP4 is the more durable choice.