VOB to WTV Converter

How to Convert VOB to WTV Online

1. Upload Your VOB File: Drag and drop or click "+ Add Files" to select VOB files ripped from a DVD's VIDEO_TS folder. Batch upload is supported — every file converts with the same settings.
2. Pick Video Codec and Audio Codec: Default is MPEG-2 video with MP2 audio, matching what Windows Media Center natively expects for recorded TV. Switch to H.264 video or AC-3 audio if your downstream player (Kodi, PotPlayer, VLC) handles them better.
3. Set Quality Preset, Resolution, or Trim (Optional): Expand Advanced Options. Choose a Quality Preset from Low to Very High, target a Specific file size, or set Constant/Variable Bitrate. Resolution offers Keep original, presets up to 1080p, percentage scaling, or custom Width x Height. Use Trim with a Time Range to cut DVD intro warnings or commercials before encoding.
4. Convert and Download: Click Convert. Files are uploaded over an encrypted connection, processed on our servers, and deleted automatically after a few hours — no sign-up, no watermark, never shared.

Why Convert VOB to WTV?

VOB is the DVD-Video container the DVD Forum standardized in the late 1990s: MPEG-2 video at up to 9.8 Mbps on the elementary stream, AC-3, MP2, LPCM, or DTS audio, all split into 1 GiB chunks across VTS_xx_y.VOB files. WTV is Microsoft's Windows Recorded TV Show container, introduced in July 2008 with the Windows Media Center TV Pack for Vista. It carries MPEG-2 or H.264 video with MP2 or Dolby Digital AC-3 audio, plus embedded program metadata (title, channel, broadcast time) that DVR-MS and VOB cannot store. Converting the two lets a DVD rip live in the same library as your tuner recordings.

• Folding old DVDs into a Windows Media Center library — Windows 7 Media Center indexes WTV alongside live-TV recordings, so your converted home-movie DVDs show up in the Recorded TV gallery instead of being orphaned in a folder.
• Single-file output instead of split VOBs — DVDs chunk video across VTS_01_1.VOB, VTS_01_2.VOB, VTS_01_3.VOB at the 1 GB boundary. A WTV is one continuous stream, easier to scrub, share, or move between drives.
• Adding program metadata — WTV stores title, channel, episode description, and original broadcast date as part of the container. Players that respect those tags (Media Center, MediaPortal, NextPVR) display proper episode info instead of a generic filename.
• HTPC archival on Windows 7 / 8.1 — If you still run a home-theater PC on Windows 7 or 8.1 Pro with Media Center, WTV is the format the Recorded TV pane was designed around. Other containers play, but only WTV gets the full UI treatment.
• Compatibility with WTV-aware tools — Programs like DVRMSToolbox, MCEBuddy, and WTVConverter expect the WTV container and can post-process metadata or commercials before you transcode further.
• Stripping DVD navigation — VOB carries IFO/BUP navigation, multi-angle markers, and chapter cells that some players choke on. Re-encoding to WTV produces a clean linear file with one video and one audio track.

VOB vs WTV — Format Comparison

Codec Quick Guide for WTV Output

Frequently Asked Questions

Will WTV files still play on Windows 10 or Windows 11?

Not natively. Microsoft discontinued Windows Media Center for Windows 10 in May 2015 and Electronic Program Guide support ended January 14, 2020. WTV files can still be opened by VLC, Kodi, MPC-HC, and PotPlayer on Windows 10/11, but the Media Center UI is gone. If you need a forward-compatible archive instead, use VOB to MP4 which plays on every modern OS without extra codecs.

Why is my VOB file actually multiple VOBs (VTS_01_1.VOB, VTS_01_2.VOB)?

DVD-Video splits a single title into 1 GB chunks for filesystem compatibility with older DVD players. The first chunk usually ends mid-scene at exactly 1,073,741,824 bytes. Upload all VTS_01_*.VOB files from one title together if you want a single seamless WTV — the converter joins them in numeric order. The smaller VIDEO_TS.VOB is the disc menu and can be skipped.

Should I keep MPEG-2 or switch to H.264 for WTV?

Keep MPEG-2 if you plan to play the file inside Windows Media Center on Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 Pro — that is the codec the recorded-TV pipeline was built around and it avoids transcoding artifacts since VOB already carries MPEG-2. Switch to H.264 only when the destination player (Kodi, PotPlayer, NextPVR) explicitly supports H.264 inside a WTV container; it halves file size at similar perceived quality but Media Center may stutter on older HTPC hardware decoding H.264 in software.

Does the conversion preserve the AC-3 5.1 surround track from a DVD?

Yes, if you pick AC-3 as the Audio Codec. Commercial DVDs typically carry a stereo MP2 track plus a 5.1-channel AC-3 track. Selecting AC-3 in Advanced Options keeps the surround layout (front L/R, center, LFE, surround L/R) and bitrate (commonly 384 or 448 kbps). MP2 output collapses to stereo unless your source was already stereo.

Can I add Windows Media Center metadata (title, episode, channel) during conversion?

Not directly — xconvert produces the WTV container but does not edit the EPG metadata fields. Convert first, then use a third-party metadata editor (DVRMSToolbox or the WtvConverter.exe that ships with Windows 7 Media Center) on the resulting file to inject title, channel, and episode info. WTV metadata sits in the container header so it can be added without re-encoding.

Why is the WTV file larger than the original VOB?

A few common reasons: (1) you joined multiple VTS_xx_y.VOB chunks into one stream, so the comparison should be against the total of all chunks, not just the first 1 GB; (2) the source VOB was at the DVD ceiling of ~9.8 Mbps and re-encoding at the Very High preset uses a slightly higher constant-quality target; (3) switching the audio from MP2 192 kbps to AC-3 448 kbps adds ~256 kbps to every second. To shrink the output, drop the Quality Preset to High or set a Specific file size.

What happens if I rip a copy-protected commercial DVD?

xconvert decodes the container but does not break CSS, Macrovision, or region-code protection. If your VOBs were extracted with a tool that already removed CSS (e.g., HandBrake with libdvdcss, MakeMKV), the converter processes them normally. Encrypted VOBs from a stock DVD-ROM rip will fail to decode. Bypassing DRM may violate the DMCA in the US and similar laws elsewhere — check local rules before ripping.

Can I trim DVD warnings and FBI screens before encoding?

Yes. Enable Trim in Advanced Options and set a Time Range with a start offset (e.g., 00:00:25) to skip the FBI warning, studio bumpers, and language-selection screens that DVDs typically front-load. The trim happens before encoding, so the output WTV starts at your chosen point with no black frames. For more surgical cuts, convert first then use the video cutter on the WTV.

What's the difference between WTV and DVR-MS?

DVR-MS was the recorded-TV format in Windows XP Media Center Edition (2002-2008). WTV replaced it with the Windows Media Center TV Pack for Vista in July 2008, adding richer metadata, better DRM support for cable-card recordings, and native H.264 support. Existing DVR-MS files can be converted to WTV using Microsoft's bundled WtvConverter.exe on Windows 7. If you have a mixed library, convert VOB to WTV here and use the Microsoft tool for any leftover DVR-MS.

Are there alternatives if WTV doesn't fit my workflow?

For broad device compatibility, VOB to MP4 is the modern default — plays on phones, smart TVs, browsers, and every desktop OS. For Windows-only playback without Media Center, VOB to WMV uses the WMV3/VC-1 codec that ships with Windows Media Player. To keep the DVD-Video lineage but get a flatter container, VOB to AVI is widely supported on legacy media players. To shrink a VOB without changing format, see compress VOB.