TS to WTV Converter

How to Convert TS to WTV Online

1. Upload Your TS Files: Drag and drop, or click "Add Files" to select one or more .ts (MPEG Transport Stream) recordings — DVB captures, IPTV dumps, or HDHomeRun streams. Batch conversion is supported.
2. Pick a Quality Preset: The default is "Very High (Recommended)". Choose Highest for archival reruns, High or Medium to shrink long broadcasts, or Lowest if you only need a viewable proxy. Optional codec controls live under File Compression — switch the video codec to MPEG-2 (the historical Windows Media Center recording codec) or keep H.264, and pair with AC-3 audio for the closest match to a native WMC recording.
3. Set Resolution and Trim (Optional): Under Video resolution, keep the original, pick a Preset Resolutions value (4320p down to 144p), enter a custom Width x Height, or scale by Resolution Percentage. Under Trim, switch from Unchanged to Time Range and enter start + duration in seconds or HH:MM:SS.sss to clip out commercials or grab a single show from a multi-hour capture.
4. Convert and Download: Click Convert. Files process on our servers, results download to your browser, and there is no watermark or sign-up. For the reverse direction see WTV to MP4.

Why Convert TS to WTV?

TS (MPEG-2 Transport Stream) is the wire-level container that carries digital television: ATSC and DVB broadcasts, HLS streaming chunks, Blu-ray BDAV recordings, and the raw output of capture tools like HDHomeRun's command-line recorder. WTV (Windows Recorded TV Show) is the Microsoft container that replaced DVR-MS in Windows Media Center TV Pack 2008 for Vista, and shipped as the default recording format on Windows 7 Media Center, Windows 8 Pro Media Center Pack, and Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center. Converting TS to WTV is mostly about getting field-captured or stream-captured content into a Windows Media Center (or compatible PVR) library so it sits next to recordings made by the tuner itself.

• Windows Media Center library — Drop converted WTVs into your Recorded TV folder so they appear in the WMC "Recorded TV" carousel beside live-tuner recordings.
• Migrating HDHomeRun TS captures — hdhomerun_config save writes raw .ts; converting to .wtv lets the file behave like a normal WMC recording instead of an external video import.
• DVR-MS replacement workflow — WTV succeeded the older DVR-MS format, and Microsoft kept WTV as the recording target through Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center; converting to WTV keeps everything in one container family.
• Preservation of legacy WMC setups — Windows 10 removed Windows Media Center entirely, but many home-theater PCs still run Windows 7 or 8.1 specifically for WMC; WTV is the format their library expects.
• MCEBuddy / metadata tooling — Tools written for WMC libraries (MCEBuddy, ServerWMC) parse WTV's metadata structure for show titles, channel info, and air dates more cleanly than they parse raw TS.

TS vs WTV — Format Comparison

Quality and Codec Quick Guide

Pair MPEG-2 + AC-3 if you want the file to look identical to a native WMC tuner recording. Use H.264 + AC-3 if you care more about file size than codec authenticity — Windows Media Center on Windows 7+ plays H.264-in-WTV correctly. AAC audio also plays back, but AC-3 is the broadcast convention WMC was tuned around.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will the converted WTV file actually appear in the Windows Media Center "Recorded TV" library?

Yes, if you drop it into the configured Recorded TV folder (defined in WMC under Tasks → Settings → TV → Recorder → Media Libraries) and the file's metadata is intact. Files imported as raw "Videos" don't show up under Recorded TV — that's the whole point of converting to WTV instead of just browsing the TS as a video import.

Should I pick MPEG-2 or H.264 for the WTV output?

MPEG-2 + AC-3 is the historical Windows Media Center recording profile and will look identical to a native tuner recording — it's also the safest pick for older HTPCs with hardware MPEG-2 decode. H.264 + AC-3 produces files roughly half the size for the same quality and is fully supported by WMC on Windows 7 and later. If you're recording HD content, H.264 is the more practical choice; for SD content destined for an older Vista or early Windows 7 box, MPEG-2 is the conservative pick.

Why does my TS file have multiple audio tracks or subtitle streams?

TS is a multiplex — broadcast streams routinely carry the program audio plus a Spanish/SAP track, descriptive audio, or DVB subtitles. The first selected audio track is preserved during conversion; secondary tracks and subtitle streams are not carried into WTV. If you need a specific track, demux the TS first (ffmpeg -map 0:a:1) and feed the resulting single-track file in.

Can I still use Windows Media Center on Windows 10 or 11?

Officially no — Microsoft confirmed at Build 2015 that WMC would not be carried forward, and the Windows 10 upgrade actively removes it. Unofficial installers exist that copy the Windows 8.1 WMC binaries onto Windows 10/11; they work but are unsupported. If you're not running WMC at all, converting to WTV is rarely the right answer — convert to TS to MP4 instead for universal playback.

Will VLC play the WTV file I get back?

Older VLC builds played WTV via the libavformat WTV demuxer; current VLC handles WTV inconsistently and the VideoLAN forum has multiple threads about WTV playback breaking and being partially restored. If portability matters more than WMC integration, convert your TS straight to MP4 — you'll avoid the WTV-player roulette entirely. PotPlayer and MPC-HC also play WTV reliably on Windows.

My TS file is from a copy-protected broadcast — will the conversion work?

Conversion only works on streams without active DRM. Cable channels marked with the broadcast flag, CableCARD-recorded WMC content, or PlayReady-encrypted streams cannot be re-encoded — the input either fails to decode or produces a black/silent output. Free-to-air ATSC, DVB-T/T2, and HLS streams without encryption convert normally.

Does the conversion preserve the broadcast metadata (channel, show title, air date)?

WTV's metadata fields are populated by Windows Media Center itself when it records — they're written from the EPG (Electronic Program Guide). A converted file gets a valid WTV container but the title/channel/description fields are blank or generic, since the source TS doesn't carry per-show EPG metadata in a form WMC reads. You can populate these fields after the fact with tools like MCEBuddy or DVR2WMC.

What's the practical file size difference between TS and WTV for the same content?

Negligible if you keep the same codec — both are containers and the heavy lifting is in the video/audio bitrate. A 1-hour 720p H.264 broadcast at ~5 Mbps lands around 2.2 GB in either container, ±5% for header and metadata overhead. If your output WTV is dramatically smaller than the TS input, you've re-encoded at a lower bitrate; if it's much larger, you've upscaled or moved from a long-GOP to a less efficient codec.

What if I just want to compress my TS without changing format?

Use Compress TS to keep the .ts extension while shrinking the file. Compression keeps the broadcast-standard container intact, which is preferable for IPTV redistribution or feeding the file back into a TS-aware tool chain. Convert to WTV only when the destination is Windows Media Center.