WMV to AVIF Converter

How to Convert WMV to AVIF Online

1. Upload Your WMV File: Drag and drop or click "Add Files" to select a WMV video. Files using WMV1, WMV2, or WMV3 (VC-1) codecs inside an ASF container all work. Batch is supported.
2. Pick the Frame to Capture: WMV is video, AVIF is a still image, so you choose which moment becomes the picture. Use "Specific Frame" with a timestamp in seconds, or "Multiple Screenshots" to extract a series at a chosen frame rate. Default is the first frame.
3. Set Quality Preset and Resolution (Optional): Choose a Quality Preset (Very High is the default), or target an exact file size in KB or MB. Resize via Preset Resolutions (144p through 4320p), a percentage of the source, or a custom Width × Height.
4. Convert and Download: Click Convert. Frames render to AVIF in your browser session — no upload to a server, no sign-up, no watermark.

Why Convert WMV to AVIF?

WMV (Windows Media Video) is a Microsoft format from 1999, with the WMV 9 / VC-1 profile standardized through SMPTE in March 2006. It still ships from older Windows screen recorders, security cameras, and archived corporate training videos. AVIF (AV1 Image File Format) is the modern image companion, released v1.0 by the Alliance for Open Media on 19 February 2019 — it shrinks photographic content roughly 50% below JPEG at similar perceptual quality, and supports 10- and 12-bit color, HDR (PQ / HLG), and the BT.2020 wide color gamut. Why pull a frame out of a WMV and save it as AVIF:

• Thumbnails and previews for modern websites — Replacing JPEG thumbnails with AVIF typically halves page weight; useful for video archives still stored as WMV.
• Sharing a still from a legacy screen recording — Older Camtasia and Windows Media Encoder captures saved as .wmv; AVIF gives you a compact still without re-encoding the whole video.
• Documenting security or dashcam footage — Frame-by-frame extraction at a specific timestamp produces an evidence-grade still that's ~half the size of an equivalent JPEG.
• Archiving frames at HDR precision — If the source WMV holds wide-gamut content, AVIF's 10/12-bit support preserves more tonal range than 8-bit JPEG.
• Multi-frame extraction for animation drafts — "Multiple Screenshots" mode pulls a sequence you can later assemble; AVIF keeps each frame small.
• Web-friendly alternative to BMP / TIFF stills — Many WMV-era workflows exported lossless BMPs from frames. AVIF replaces those with files 10-20× smaller.

If you need the whole video instead of a still, see WMV to MP4. For a JPEG still instead, see WMV to JPG.

WMV vs AVIF — What You're Trading

Quality Preset vs File Size Cheat Sheet

Sizes vary with content — flat UI screenshots compress smaller than camera footage with film grain.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a WMV (video) become an AVIF (image)?

XConvert extracts a single frame (or several) from the WMV and encodes each as AVIF using the AV1 intra-frame codec. By default the first frame is captured; use "Specific Frame" with a time in seconds to pick any moment, or "Multiple Screenshots" to pull a sequence at a chosen frame rate (1, 2, 5, 8, 10, 12, 15, 20, 24, 25, 30, or 50 fps). AVIF supports animated sequences too, but for video playback you want WMV to MP4 instead.

Will the AVIF really be 50% smaller than a JPEG of the same frame?

For photographic content (real-world camera footage, gradients, skin tones), yes — Netflix's published AV1 image benchmarks against JPEG show roughly 50% savings at comparable perceptual quality, with consistent gains on faces and skies. For flat UI screenshots or 256-color cartoon content, the gap narrows. AVIF still typically wins, but PNG can sometimes match it on flat synthetic content.

Which browsers and devices display AVIF?

Chrome 85+ (Aug 2020), Firefox 93+ (Oct 2021), Safari 16.4+ (March 2023), Edge 121+ (Jan 2024), and Opera 71+. Mobile Safari since iOS 16, Chrome for Android since v148. Per caniuse, that's about 94% of global users today. Internet Explorer and Opera Mini do not support AVIF — if you need legacy compatibility, fall back to WMV to JPG.

What's the difference between WMV1, WMV2, and WMV3 (VC-1)?

WMV1 (Windows Media Video 7, 1999) was the original. WMV2 (version 8) improved compression. WMV3 / Windows Media Video 9 / VC-1 (standardized via SMPTE in 2006) is what most modern .wmv files actually contain. XConvert reads all three. If your file uses the rarer WMV Image (WMVA) or WMV Screen (MSS2) variants, results are still good but encoding speed varies.

Can I pick a frame from a specific timestamp instead of the first frame?

Yes. In Advanced Options, switch from default first-frame extraction to "Specific Frame" and enter a time in seconds (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, or 10 seconds presets, or custom). For sub-second precision, use 1/10, 1/5, 1/3, or 1/2-second fractional inputs. The frame nearest that timestamp gets captured.

Can I get HDR or 10-bit color in the AVIF output?

AVIF supports 8-, 10-, and 12-bit depth, but the output bit depth depends on the source. WMV / VC-1 was designed pre-HDR and stores 8-bit 4:2:0 in nearly all real-world files, so the output AVIF will be 8-bit too. If you have a rare 10-bit WMV master (some broadcast workflows), the AVIF can carry that depth through.

How do I pull multiple frames at once for a contact-sheet preview?

Use "Multiple Screenshots" in Frame Selection, set the frame rate (e.g. 1 fps for one frame per second), and XConvert returns a sequence of AVIF files — one per sampled frame. Combined with a percentage resize (10-25%) you get a lightweight contact sheet of an entire WMV in a few hundred KB.

Why does my AVIF look slightly different from the WMV frame in a video player?

Two reasons. WMV uses BT.601 or BT.709 color primaries and limited-range YCbCr; AVIF in a browser is decoded into sRGB / BT.709 full range. The color conversion can shift gradients by a few percent. Second, WMV plays at 24-30 fps and your eye blends frames — a still strips that motion blur, so noise and aliasing on any single frame become more visible. Pick a Quality Preset of High or Very High to minimize re-quantization artifacts.

Can I convert AVIF back to JPG if a recipient can't open it?

Yes — see AVIF to JPG. Some image viewers (older Windows Photos, default macOS Preview before Ventura, most email clients) still don't decode AVIF, so a JPEG fallback is useful for sharing.