WMV to WMA Converter

How to Convert WMV to WMA Online

1. Upload Your WMV File: Drag and drop, or click "+ Add Files" to load one or more .wmv clips from your device. Batch is supported — every file uses the same settings.
2. Pick Quality Preset or Custom Bitrate: Default keeps the WMA codec and re-encodes the extracted audio at a high-quality setting. Switch the Quality Preset dropdown (Lowest / Low / Medium / High / Highest) for smaller files, or open Custom Bitrate and pick Constant Bitrate (e.g. 128, 192, 256 kbps) or Variable Bitrate for a tighter file.
3. Tune Audio Sample Rate, Audio Channel, and Trim (Optional): Drop the Audio Sample Rate to 44.1 kHz / 24 kHz to shrink podcast-style files; force Mono via Audio Channel for spoken word; use Trim with start time and duration in HH:MM:SS.mmm to grab a single song or quote out of a long recording.
4. Convert and Download: Click Convert. Files are processed on xconvert's servers, then deleted automatically after a few hours — no watermarks, no sign-up, free up to 400 MB per file.

Why Extract WMA Audio from WMV?

Windows Media Video (.wmv) and Windows Media Audio (.wma) both live inside Microsoft's Advanced Systems Format (ASF) container, and according to Wikipedia's WMV article the audio stream inside a WMV file is "typically some version of Windows Media Audio." That makes WMV → WMA a cheap conversion: the audio track is extracted from the ASF video container and re-encoded into a standalone .wma file at a high-quality setting. Common reasons people do this:

• Strip a music-video rip down to just the audio — drop the video track from a .wmv concert capture or AMV and keep the WMAv2 track at its original bitrate so the song still sounds like the source.
• Pull narration out of a screen recording or webinar — older Windows Media Encoder / Camtasia / Captivate exports often saved as .wmv; extracting to .wma gives you a podcast-friendly file that's a fraction of the original size.
• Reuse audio from legacy training videos — corporate LMS archives from the 2000s are full of .wmv lectures; WMA extraction preserves the voice track for transcription or accessibility re-use.
• Feed Windows-only kiosks and embedded players — older Windows CE / Windows Embedded systems and some car head units accept .wma but not modern containers, so WMA stays useful where MP3 or AAC won't decode.
• Sample dialogue or sound effects — game cutscenes shipped as .wmv (common in PC titles from 2003-2012) can be reduced to .wma for use in mashups, ringtones, or alarm tones.
• Convert once, transcode later — extracting to WMA first at a high-quality setting keeps a clean source on disk before any further conversion to MP3, M4A, or OGG.

WMV vs WMA — Container vs Codec

WMA Codec Family — Pick the Right Flavor

Specs sourced from Wikipedia: Windows Media Audio and Microsoft's About the Windows Media Codecs documentation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will the conversion re-encode my audio or just remux it?

It always re-encodes — there is no pass-through stream copy. The audio track is extracted from the ASF container and re-encoded to WMA v2; leave the default high-quality preset for near-transparent results, or pick a lower Quality Preset, change the Sample Rate, force Mono, or set a Custom Bitrate for a smaller, more compressed file.

What WMA version do I get by default?

WMA v2 (wmav2, format tag 0x161), the standard lossy codec Microsoft shipped in 1999-2000 and the one decoded by every Windows Media Player install since Windows XP. It supports stereo at up to 48 kHz. The output is WMA v2 even if the source WMV carried WMA Pro or WMA Lossless.

Why is my output .wma almost the same size as the WMV input?

Because most of a typical WMV's payload is the audio track plus muxing overhead. If the video stream was low-bitrate (e.g. a 360p screen recording at 200 kbps video + 128 kbps WMA), audio is already a big share of the file, so dropping the video saves less than you'd expect. For a heavy DVD-rip the difference is huge; for a voice-over screencast it can be modest.

Can I convert a DRM-protected .wmv from an old Windows Media store?

No. WMV files purchased from Microsoft's old PlaysForSure / Zune Marketplace / MSN Music stores carry DRM that ties playback to a licensed Windows account. xconvert (and every other browser-based converter) cannot decrypt them. You'll get a load error or a silent output. If you legally own the content, play it back through licensed software and re-record locally, or migrate to a DRM-free source.

Should I use WMA at all in 2026, or convert to MP3 instead?

If your target is a Windows-only environment, an embedded device that explicitly lists .wma, or you want to preserve the original codec losslessly, WMA is fine. For anything else — phones, browsers, smart speakers, modern car infotainment, podcast apps — convert to WMV to MP3 or WMV to WAV instead. MP3 has near-universal hardware support; WAV is uncompressed PCM for editing.

How do I extract just one song or section, not the whole audio?

Open Advanced Options, enable Trim, set the Start time and Duration in HH:MM:SS.mmm format. For example Start 00:01:23.500 and Duration 00:00:42.000 pulls a 42-second clip beginning 1 minute 23.5 seconds in. For multi-cut editing after extraction, use the Audio Cutter tool on the resulting .wma.

What sample rate and bitrate should I pick for a voice-only recording?

For spoken word — webinars, lectures, podcasts — drop Audio Sample Rate to 24 kHz, force Audio Channel to Mono, and set Custom Bitrate to Constant 48-64 kbps. That cuts file size by roughly 75% versus 44.1 kHz stereo 128 kbps with no audible loss on voice. For music, stay at 44.1 kHz stereo and use 128-192 kbps CBR or VBR.

My WMV file is 4 GB — will the converter handle it?

Free uploads are limited to 400 MB per file (1 GB on Basic, 4 GB on Pro). Very large videos (multi-gigabyte HD rips, hour-plus webinars) need trimming first. For huge files the audio re-encode is quick — encoding a single audio track uses far less CPU than a full video transcode — so the upload is the real bottleneck.

Can I batch-extract WMA from a whole folder of WMV files?

Yes. Add all the .wmv files to the queue in one go (drag a folder onto the upload area or shift-select in the file picker). Every file uses the same settings — handy for ripping an entire training course or concert archive to audio in one pass. Output is a separate .wma per input; pair with Compress WMA afterwards if you need to shrink the lot.