FLV to WMV Converter

How to Convert FLV to WMV Online

1. Upload Your FLV Files: Drag and drop or click "Add Files" to select FLV recordings — old YouTube downloads, archived Flash-era screencasts, e-learning exports, or salvaged Camtasia / Bandicam captures. Batch is supported; drop a whole folder of legacy clips and each converts in parallel.
2. Pick Quality Preset or Bitrate Mode: Default is the "Very High (Recommended)" Quality Preset, which targets visually-lossless WMV9 (VC-1) output. Switch to Specific file size to cap output at an exact MB target, Constant Bitrate for predictable streaming sizes, Variable Bitrate for smaller files at the same quality, Constant Quality for a CRF-style slider, or Constraint Quality for capped-VBR with a ceiling bitrate.
3. Resize or Trim if Needed (Optional): Under Video resolution, keep original (most archive FLV is 320×240 to 720×480), pick a Preset Resolution (240p / 360p / 480p / 720p / 1080p), scale by Resolution Percentage, or enter custom Width × Height. Under Trim, select Time Range and enter start time + duration in seconds or HH:MM:SS.sss to drop intros, ads, or padding.
4. Convert and Download: Click Convert. Files process in your browser session — no sign-up, no watermark, no email required. Download individually or as a ZIP.

Why Convert FLV to WMV?

FLV (Flash Video, released by Macromedia / Adobe in September 2003) was the format that powered the web video boom — YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion, and virtually every Flash-embedded player used it from 2003 to roughly 2015. Adobe officially ended Flash Player on December 31, 2020, and on January 12, 2021 the runtime began actively blocking Flash content. Today no modern browser plays FLV natively, and standalone Flash playback is gone. WMV (Windows Media Video, introduced by Microsoft in 1999 with WMV7 and standardized in 2006 as SMPTE 421M / VC-1 in its WMV9 form) survives because it plays in Windows Media Player without an extra codec pack. Converting FLV to WMV is mostly a salvage operation — keeping decade-old Flash content playable on a Windows machine. Common reasons:

• Open old e-learning and training archives on Windows — Corporate LMS exports from the 2008-2014 era (Articulate Storyline 1, Adobe Captivate 5/6, Camtasia pre-2015) often output FLV. Re-encoded as WMV, they play in Windows Media Player on locked-down enterprise desktops where you can't install VLC or new codec packs.
• Recover archived YouTube downloads — Pre-2010 YouTube grabs (saved by youtube-dl early builds, KeepVid, RealPlayer Downloader) are nearly always Sorenson Spark or VP6 inside an FLV. Converting to WMV gets them off Flash's dead runtime and into a Windows-native format.
• Rescue old Camtasia / Bandicam captures — Game and tutorial screen recorders defaulted to FLV throughout the late 2000s. WMV is a sensible re-target for content that will only ever be viewed on Windows.
• Hand off footage to legacy Windows editing tools — Windows Movie Maker (discontinued in 2017 but still widely used on Windows 7/10 installs) and older Sony Vegas / Pinnacle Studio builds accept WMV but reject FLV.
• Replace a missing Flash codec pack — Modern Windows Media Player ships without FLV decoder support, and adding the Combined Community Codec Pack (CCCP) is no longer maintained. Converting once means every future Windows install opens the clip with no setup.
• Burn to DVD with Windows-native tools — Older DVD authoring chains (Roxio Creator, Nero, Windows DVD Maker on Windows 7) consume WMV but stumble on FLV. WMV also slots cleanly into VC-1 Blu-ray authoring.

Note: if your audience uses anything other than Windows — phones, browsers, Macs, smart TVs — convert to MP4 instead with FLV to MP4. MP4 is the universal modern target; WMV makes sense only for Windows-only legacy playback.

FLV vs WMV vs MP4 at a Glance

Quality and Bitrate Mode Quick Guide

Frequently Asked Questions

Will quality drop when converting FLV to WMV?

Some loss is unavoidable because FLV almost always uses Sorenson Spark or On2 VP6, and WMV uses a different codec family (WMV9 / VC-1). The two are not stream-compatible, so the conversion is a full re-encode rather than a container remux — you cannot just rewrap an FLV stream inside an ASF container. At the default "Very High" Quality Preset the result is visually indistinguishable from the source on side-by-side playback. Your bigger constraint is the FLV itself: most archived Flash-era files were encoded at 240p-480p with low bitrates, so the WMV inherits that ceiling. Converting does not invent new detail.

Why doesn't Windows Media Player play my FLV directly?

Windows Media Player ships with decoders for WMV, MP4 (H.264), and a few other Microsoft-blessed formats, but not FLV. Older guides suggest installing the Combined Community Codec Pack (CCCP) or K-Lite to add FLV support, but CCCP development stopped in 2015 and K-Lite installs system-wide codecs that can conflict with newer Windows builds. Converting the FLV to WMV once permanently solves the problem with no system changes.

Should I convert FLV to WMV or to MP4?

MP4 unless you specifically need Windows Media Player on a locked-down Windows machine. MP4 with H.264 plays everywhere — Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, every modern browser, smart TVs, Roku, Chromecast. WMV plays only on Windows and some older Microsoft devices (Zune, original Xbox 360 dashboards). For archival or sharing, pick FLV to MP4. Choose WMV only when the target system literally won't accept anything else.

Can Windows Movie Maker import the converted WMV?

Yes. Windows Movie Maker (the discontinued 2012 build still widely installed) imports WMV natively and rejects FLV outright. Once converted, the clip drops onto the timeline without a codec prompt. Newer Microsoft tools — the built-in Photos / Video Editor in Windows 10 and 11 — also accept WMV, though Microsoft is steering users toward MP4 for new projects.

What about the audio track — does the conversion handle that too?

Yes. FLV audio is typically MP3, AAC, Nellymoser, or Speex. WMV stores audio as WMA (Windows Media Audio) inside its ASF container, so the audio stream is re-encoded along with the video. Default settings produce stereo WMA at a bitrate that matches the original; you can override the audio codec or bitrate in advanced options if you need a specific target.

Can I trim or cut while converting?

Yes. Under Trim, select Time Range and enter start time + duration in seconds (12.5) or HH:MM:SS.sss (00:01:30.500). This is useful for stripping the YouTube watermark intro, sponsor cards, or buffering frames at the end of an old screencast before they bake into the WMV.

Can I batch-convert a whole folder of FLV files?

Yes. Upload as many FLV files as you want — there's no quantity limit. Apply the same Quality Preset and resolution to every file or set per-file options. Each one converts in parallel inside your browser session, and you can download individually or grab everything as a ZIP. Useful when migrating an entire archive of e-learning modules or game recordings at once.

Is WMV still a sensible format in 2026?

Only for Windows-only legacy contexts: locked-down enterprise desktops, embedded Windows kiosks, old DVD authoring chains, or feeding the still-installed Windows Movie Maker. Microsoft's own modern tools have shifted to MP4. For any new project, web upload, social platform, or cross-device sharing, MP4 is the right target — convert with FLV to MP4 or WMV to MP4 if you have existing WMV to modernize. If you just want to shrink an existing WMV instead of changing format, see Compress WMV.

Does the tool re-encode or just rewrap the container?

Always a full re-encode for FLV → WMV. A container remux (lossless rewrap, ffmpeg -c copy) only works when the source codec is also legal in the destination container. FLV ships Sorenson Spark / VP6 / H.264 / Nellymoser; WMV's ASF container expects WMV7 / WMV8 / WMV9 video and WMA audio. None of the FLV codecs are valid inside ASF, so the streams must be decoded and re-encoded. That's why the conversion takes longer than a same-codec container swap like MP4 → MOV.