WTV to FLV Converter

How to Convert WTV to FLV Online

1. Upload Your WTV File: Drag and drop, or click "+ Add Files" to select recordings from your computer. Batch upload is supported — useful when you're working through a Windows Media Center archive.
2. Pick Quality Preset and File Compression: Default Preset is "Very High (Recommended)". Drop to "High" or "Medium" for smaller FLV files. Under File Compression you can target a Specific file size (MB), set a Constant Bitrate, hold a Constant Quality, or apply Constraint Quality so the encoder stays within a quality ceiling.
3. Set Video Resolution and Trim (Optional): Keep original, scale by Resolution Percentage, pick a Preset Resolution (e.g. 1280x720, 1920x1080), or enter a custom Width/Height with aspect ratio locked. Use Trim → Time Range to cut commercials or pull a single segment out of a multi-hour DVR recording.
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 WTV to FLV?

WTV is Microsoft's proprietary Windows Recorded TV Show container, introduced with the Windows Media Center TV Pack for Windows Vista in 2008 and bundled with every Windows 7 Media Center edition. Video is typically encoded as MPEG-2 (standard-definition cable/antenna) or H.264 (HD channels), with audio as MPEG-1 Layer II or Dolby Digital AC-3, plus EPG metadata and optional broadcast-flag DRM. The format is essentially abandoned: Windows Media Center was available as a paid add-on on Windows 8/8.1 and discontinued entirely in Windows 10, leaving WTV recordings stranded on machines that may not boot a second time.

FLV (Flash Video) was released by Macromedia/Adobe alongside Flash Player 7 on September 10, 2003 and dominated web video for roughly a decade — YouTube, Vimeo and Hulu all started on FLV. Adobe officially discontinued Flash Player on December 31, 2020 and blocked Flash content from running January 12, 2021. FLV is no longer suitable for general web playback, but it remains useful in several specific niches:

• RTMP ingest for live broadcast — YouTube Live, Twitch, Facebook Live and most ingest platforms still accept RTMP, which wraps FLV-format packets. If you're piping a recording into an OBS/restream pipeline as a pre-recorded source, FLV is the native container.
• Legacy media servers and CDNs — Wowza, Red5, nginx-rtmp and SRS still ship with FLV/HTTP-FLV support; intranet video portals and broadcast-monitoring rigs built before 2018 often expect FLV.
• Archival of recorded TV into a smaller container — H.264-in-FLV trims the MPEG-2 bloat typical of WTV recordings. A one-hour HD WTV at ~8-10 GB commonly drops to 1-2 GB without obvious quality loss.
• Editing in legacy NLE projects — Adobe Premiere CS6/CC, Sony Vegas Pro 13 and Camtasia 9 projects with FLV timelines still import faster than re-transcoded MP4.
• Embedded systems and kiosk players — Some digital-signage boxes shipped 2010-2016 only play FLV/MP4; if the kiosk firmware is locked, FLV stays the path of least resistance.
• Stripping WTV's DRM and metadata wrapper — Re-muxing to FLV produces a portable file that opens in VLC, MPC-HC and ffmpeg-based tools without Windows Media Center's broadcast-flag friction.

WTV vs FLV — Format Comparison

Quality / Bitrate Quick Guide for FLV Output

Frequently Asked Questions

Is FLV still worth using in 2026 given Adobe's Flash Player EOL?

For general web playback, no — modern browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari) have not run Flash since January 12, 2021. FLV is still actively useful as the on-wire container for RTMP, which YouTube Live, Twitch, Facebook Live and most professional ingest platforms continue to accept. Pick FLV when you need RTMP compatibility, are feeding a legacy media server (Wowza, Red5, nginx-rtmp, SRS), or are working in an older NLE that prefers FLV timelines. For everything else, convert WTV to MP4 instead.

My WTV recording is 8 GB and the FLV output is ~1.5 GB — did I lose video?

Almost certainly not. WTV from HD channels typically holds MPEG-2 at ~15-19 Mbps, plus AC-3 audio, plus uncompressed EPG metadata and broadcast padding. Re-encoding to H.264-in-FLV at 4-6 Mbps recovers roughly the same perceived quality at a quarter the bitrate, because H.264 is ~2x as efficient as MPEG-2 and FLV drops the EPG/DRM overhead. If you want the file even smaller, pick Medium preset with Specific file size.

Why does my WTV not show up — or fail to play — even though it's a video file?

Two common causes. First, some WTV files carry the ATSC broadcast flag and PlayReady DRM keyed to the recording PC; those will refuse to convert anywhere off the originating machine. Second, WTV is a Microsoft container that ffmpeg-based tools sometimes mis-probe — re-muxing through Windows Media Center's WTVConverter.exe to DVR-MS first is the classic workaround if our converter rejects the file. Files without DRM convert without issue.

Should I pick Constant Bitrate or Constant Quality for FLV?

Constant Bitrate (CBR) is the right choice when the FLV will be ingested over RTMP — streaming platforms expect a predictable bitrate and CBR avoids buffer underruns on the receiving end. Constant Quality (CRF-style) gives a better size-to-quality ratio for archive files that will be replayed locally. Use Constraint Quality when you want to cap quality high but still keep file size sane — useful for keeping a folder of recordings under a backup drive's capacity.

Can I trim out commercial breaks before converting?

Yes. Open the Trim section and switch from "Unchanged" to "Time Range". Enter start/end timestamps for the segment you want to keep, or set multiple ranges across the recording. The converter writes only the selected ranges into the FLV output, which is faster than encoding the whole file and editing afterward.

What's the difference between FLV and F4V, and which should I export?

FLV is the original 2003 Adobe container; F4V (introduced 2007) is essentially MP4 with Adobe branding — it uses the ISO base media file format and does not support older codecs like Sorenson Spark or VP6. FLV is what RTMP ingest endpoints actually expect on the wire, so stick with FLV unless a target system specifically asks for F4V. For anything modern, convert to MP4 instead.

Does the converter handle 1080i WTV recordings (interlaced HD) correctly?

Yes — the encoder will deinterlace 1080i source content during the FLV encode. If you see combing artifacts in the output, drop Resolution Percentage to 100% and use a Preset Resolution of 1920x1080 progressive; the encoder applies deinterlacing during scaling. For 720p sources (already progressive) no extra step is needed.

Is there a file size or file count limit?

Files process on our servers, so the cap is upload size and connection speed and the source file's size on our servers-side quota. Multi-gigabyte HD WTV recordings work; for very long DVR captures (3+ hours, 20+ GB), expect the convert step to take longer and consider trimming first via Time Range. Other WTV pipelines on xconvert: WTV to MKV, WTV to MOV, WTV to AVI.

Can I edit the FLV output in Premiere or Vegas afterward?

Yes, with a caveat. Adobe Premiere Pro CC dropped native FLV import in CC 2019; CS6 through CC 2018 still open FLV timelines directly. Sony/Magix Vegas Pro 13+ and Camtasia 9+ handle FLV. For newer Premiere/Resolve/Final Cut workflows, export MP4 from the start using WTV to MP4.