WTV to TS Converter

How to Convert WTV to TS Online

1. Upload Your WTV File: Drag and drop or click "+ Add Files" to select one or more .wtv recordings from Windows Media Center. Batch is supported — convert a whole season at once.
2. Pick Quality Preset or Bitrate: Default is Very High (Recommended), which keeps near-broadcast quality. For a smaller TS, switch to High or Medium, or choose Constant Bitrate / Variable Bitrate and type a value (e.g., 4 Mbps for 720p, 8-12 Mbps for 1080p). Power users can pick Constant Quality (CRF) or Constraint Quality for two-pass-style targeting.
3. Resize, Trim, or Set Target File Size (Optional): Use Video resolution to keep the original or pick a Preset Resolution (480p, 720p, 1080p, up to 4320p). Constrain by Width, Height, or Width x Height with aspect lock. Use Trim -> Time Range to clip out the ad blocks and channel-bumper padding common in WMC recordings, or set Specific file size to hit a hard target.
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.ts` is ready for HLS, Plex, or a standards-compliant editor.

Why Convert WTV to TS?

WTV is the proprietary recording container Microsoft introduced with the Windows Media Center TV Pack 2008 for Vista, then carried into Windows 7. It wraps MPEG-2 or H.264 video with AC-3 or MPEG-1 Layer II audio, plus EPG metadata, captions, and DRM hooks tied to Media Center. Microsoft discontinued Windows Media Center with Windows 10 in 2015, so anyone with a library of .wtv recordings now has a format that almost no third-party player, editor, or streaming server reads cleanly. MPEG-2 Transport Stream (.ts) is the opposite — an open, ISO-standardised container (ISO/IEC 13818-1) built from 188-byte packets that broadcast, HLS, and every NLE on the market handle natively.

• Plex, Jellyfin, Emby, and Kodi compatibility — Plex and Jellyfin can sometimes probe .wtv but transcoding is flaky and metadata is lost; .ts direct-plays in every major media server without re-encoding.
• HLS streaming pipelines — Apple's HTTP Live Streaming segments video into MPEG-2 TS chunks (5-10 second .ts files in an .m3u8 manifest). Converting WTV recordings to .ts puts them one step from being broadcast over the web.
• Editor support — DaVinci Resolve, Premiere Pro, Vegas Pro, and Avid all import .ts directly. None of them import .wtv without a third-party DirectShow filter chain that often desyncs audio.
• Strip DRM-tainted recordings — If a CableCARD or premium-channel recording got flagged "Copy Once / Copy Never," WTV refuses to open it outside Media Center. Re-muxing to .ts on an unflagged recording removes the proprietary wrapper so it plays on any device.
• Cut ads and channel bumpers — WMC recordings usually pad each side of the show. The Trim controls let you cut to the actual start/end, and a remux-style conversion to .ts rewrites the timing without re-encoding the video stream.
• Archive in a future-proof format — .wtv is a dead-end format. .ts is part of the MPEG-2 systems standard and will be readable by FFmpeg, VLC, and broadcast equipment for decades.

WTV vs TS — Format Comparison

Quality Preset Quick Guide

Frequently Asked Questions

Will my WTV-to-TS conversion be a stream copy or a re-encode?

It depends on the source codec. If your .wtv already carries MPEG-2 or H.264 video and AC-3 audio (the two common WMC recording profiles), and you leave the codec/preset settings on default, the converter remuxes the elementary streams into a TS container with no quality loss. If you pick a different output preset, change the resolution, trim, or target a specific file size, the video is re-encoded. To stay lossless, pick the highest quality preset and leave resolution on "Keep original."

Why is my WTV from a premium cable channel failing to convert?

Recordings flagged "Copy Once" or "Copy Never" by CableCARD or some OTA broadcasters carry DRM that Windows Media Center enforces. Those files can only be opened by WMC on the original PC that recorded them. You'll need to play the recording on the original machine and screen-record, or check whether the channel was actually flagged (most OTA US broadcast is "Copy Freely" and converts fine).

Why are there 30 seconds of black or a different show at the start of my recording?

Windows Media Center adds padding before and after the scheduled program time to catch overrun shows. The result is leading/trailing footage from the previous and next programs. Use the Trim -> Time Range controls to set the actual start and end times before converting.

Will the TS file play on my smart TV?

Most smart TVs (Samsung Tizen, LG webOS, Sony, Hisense) play .ts files over USB or DLNA, as long as the video codec inside is H.264 or HEVC and the audio is AAC or AC-3. MPEG-2 video is also widely supported because it's the broadcast standard. If a TV refuses to play it, the issue is usually the codec, not the container — re-convert with H.264 video and AAC audio.

Do I lose the program guide info (title, cast, synopsis) when converting?

Yes. EPG metadata stored in the WTV wrapper is Microsoft-specific and has no equivalent slot in the TS container. TS only carries broadcast-style PAT/PMT/EIT tables. If you need the show title and air date preserved, write them into the filename or a sidecar .nfo file for Plex/Jellyfin before deleting the original .wtv.

Why is my TS file bigger than the WTV source?

Two common reasons. (1) If the source is H.264 and you re-encoded to MPEG-2, MPEG-2 is roughly 2x less efficient at the same quality — expect the file to double. (2) If you picked a higher quality preset than the source bitrate, the encoder pads bits without adding detail. To match the source size, choose Variable Bitrate and set a target close to the original average bitrate (right-click the WTV in Windows Explorer -> Properties -> Details to see it).

Can I just rename .wtv to .ts?

No. WTV is an ASF-style proprietary container with Microsoft-specific headers; TS is a fixed 188-byte packet structure with sync bytes (0x47) every packet. Renaming the extension changes nothing about the bytes — VLC will throw a demux error. You need an actual conversion that strips the WTV wrapper and emits standard TS packets.

Is .ts the same as the segments I see in HLS streams?

Yes. Apple's HTTP Live Streaming protocol segments video into short MPEG-2 TS files (typically 5-10 seconds each) listed in an .m3u8 manifest. Converting a WTV recording to a single .ts file puts it one step from being chunked into HLS segments — most streaming packagers (FFmpeg, Bento4, Shaka Packager) accept a single TS as input and emit the segmented output.

What about M2TS or MTS — should I use those instead?

M2TS (Blu-ray) and MTS (AVCHD camcorder) are TS-derived containers with extra 4-byte timestamps per packet. Use .m2ts if you're authoring a Blu-ray or feeding a player that expects BDAV. For general playback, streaming, or editing, plain .ts is the right pick. See WTV to M2TS if you specifically need the Blu-ray variant, or WTV to MP4 for the most universally playable target. The reverse direction lives at TS to WTV, and Trim WTV handles cuts without conversion.