Xvid to WTV

How to Convert Xvid to WTV Online

1. Upload Your Xvid File: Drag and drop the Xvid-encoded .avi file (or click "+ Add Files"). Xvid is a codec, not a container — your file is almost always an AVI carrying MPEG-4 Part 2 ASP video plus MP3 or AC-3 audio. Batch upload is supported, and processing happens on our servers — no installer, no watermark, no sign-up.
2. Pick a Compression Mode: Open File Compression and choose Quality Preset (Very High is the default, recommended for legacy Xvid rips you want to preserve), Specific file size (enter a target like 700 MB to fit a media-library budget), Constant Bitrate (steady throughput for predictable seeking), Variable Bitrate (smaller files at the same perceived quality), Constant Quality / CRF (set quality directly and let the encoder decide bitrate), or Constraint Quality (CRF with an upper bitrate cap so a long flat scene cannot bloat).
3. Resize and Trim (Optional): Under Video Resolution, leave it on Keep original, scale by Resolution Percentage (50%, 75%), pick a Preset Resolution (1080p, 720p, 480p), or enter Width x Height. Under Trim, switch from Unchanged to Time Range and set start time and duration to drop intros, ad breaks, or padding before reaching the WTV step.
4. Convert and Download: Click Convert. The output .wtv file is built with codecs that match Microsoft's WTV spec (MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 video, MPEG-1 Layer II or AC-3 audio) so it imports cleanly into a Windows Media Center library.

Why Convert Xvid to WTV?

Xvid is an open-source MPEG-4 Part 2 (ASP) encoder first released in 2001 after the OpenDivX project went closed-source — it ruled the early-2000s movie-sharing era inside AVI containers, almost always with MP3 audio. WTV (Windows Recorded TV Show) is Microsoft's container that replaced DVR-MS with the Windows Media Center TV Pack 2008 and then shipped in every Media Center edition of Windows 7. The two formats live in completely different worlds: Xvid is a codec inside AVI; WTV is a TV-recording container with metadata, EPG hints, and (on retail recordings) DRM. Converting Xvid to WTV is almost always about getting legacy AVI rips into a Windows Media Center library so they sit alongside actual TV recordings.

• Unify a Windows Media Center library — A library of recorded shows in .wtv plus old movies in Xvid .avi is a sorting and playback mess. Re-wrapping the Xvid catalog as WTV gives WMC a single, consistent file type to index and surface in the "Recorded TV" tile.
• Match WMC's expected codecs — WMC was built around MPEG-2 and AC-3 (the codecs ATSC and DVB broadcast in). MPEG-4 Part 2 / MP3 from an Xvid AVI is technically playable but second-class. Outputting WTV with MPEG-2 video and AC-3 audio matches what WMC's pipeline was tuned for.
• Preserve a personal Vista or Windows 7 HTPC build — Plenty of HTPCs still run Windows 7 with WMC for over-the-air recording. Adding old Xvid content as WTV keeps everything inside the 10-foot Media Center UI instead of forcing users back to a separate file-explorer view.
• Migrate AVI archives off external drives — A folder of 700 MB Xvid rips from the BitTorrent era takes up the same space as DVR'd TV but breaks the WMC browsing experience. Converting to WTV lets you keep the archive but inside the same library schema.
• Standardize for Media Center extenders — Xbox 360 and other Media Center Extenders streamed WTV/DVR-MS reliably and stumbled on arbitrary AVI/Xvid files depending on the codec pack on the host PC. WTV avoids that.
• Set up demo or test content for WMC tooling — If you're building, testing, or troubleshooting Media Center add-ins, WTV samples are needed and broadcast capture is not always available. Converting an Xvid clip to WTV produces test material in the right container.

Xvid (in AVI) vs WTV — Format Comparison

File Compression Mode Quick Guide

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a WTV file and where does Windows Media Center expect it?

WTV (Windows Recorded TV Show) is Microsoft's container for recorded TV. It shipped with the Windows Media Center TV Pack 2008 for Vista and was the default in every WMC edition of Windows 7. Unlike its predecessor DVR-MS, WTV does not use the ASF container — it has its own chunk-based layout that stores video, audio, EPG metadata, closed captions, and DRM flags together. WMC indexes %PUBLIC%\Recorded TV (or whatever you configure) and treats every .wtv it finds as a TV recording.

Is "Xvid" actually a file format, or is my file really an AVI?

Almost always an AVI. Xvid is a codec library that implements MPEG-4 Part 2 Advanced Simple Profile — it produces a video stream, not a file format. That stream is wrapped in a container, and in practice that container is AVI (.avi) with MP3 audio. You will occasionally see Xvid in MKV. xconvert accepts the file regardless of what the extension says — it inspects the actual stream. See convert Xvid to AVI if you need to remux without re-encoding.

Why convert to WTV at all instead of MP4 or MKV?

Only one reason worth doing this conversion: you are using Windows Media Center, an HTPC build that depends on it, or a Media Center Extender, and you want the file to live in the WMC library next to your TV recordings. For literally any other use case (modern players, phones, smart TVs, web), pick MP4 — see Xvid to MP4. If your end target is a generic Windows player rather than WMC specifically, Xvid to WMV is also a better fit than WTV.

Will my converted WTV file work on Windows 10 or Windows 11?

Windows Media Center was removed from Windows 10 in 2015 and never came back, so you cannot natively play WTV in Windows 10/11 the way you could in Windows 7. The file still plays in VLC if VLC has the MPEG-2 and AC-3 decoders enabled, and there are unofficial WMC restoration projects, but Microsoft does not ship a player that opens WTV anymore. If your target machine is Windows 10/11, MP4 is the right format, not WTV.

What video and audio codecs go inside the WTV file?

WTV stores video as MPEG-2 (the codec broadcast TV uses) or MPEG-4, and audio as MPEG-1 Layer II or Dolby Digital AC-3 — that is the codec set the WMC pipeline was built for. Xvid's MPEG-4 Part 2 video and MP3 audio do not map directly into that set, so the conversion is a real re-encode, not a remux. Expect the output to be larger than your source AVI for the same visual quality because MPEG-2 is less efficient than MPEG-4 ASP.

How big will the WTV file be compared to my Xvid AVI?

Larger, usually 1.5x to 3x larger if you keep the resolution and pick MPEG-2 video. MPEG-2 is the codec OTA broadcast uses precisely because it decodes fast on cheap hardware, but at the cost of compression efficiency relative to newer codecs. If size matters more than WMC compatibility, use Variable Bitrate or Constant Quality (CRF) in the File Compression panel and accept that you will trade some pure-WMC fidelity for a smaller file — or convert to a more efficient target like Xvid to MP4 instead.

Will the WTV output have EPG / program guide metadata like a real recording?

No. EPG, channel name, original air date, closed captions, and ATSC PSIP data only exist in WTV files that came from an actual broadcast capture in WMC. A converted file is a valid WTV container with the right codecs, but the metadata fields will be empty or contain only the technical info xconvert can derive (duration, dimensions, codec). WMC will list it as a recording but the show details panel will be blank.

Can I trim or compress the file in the same step as the conversion?

Yes. Under Trim choose Time Range and set a start time and duration to cut intros, credits, or ad blocks before the file becomes WTV. Under File Compression you can drop bitrate or CRF to shrink the output, change resolution under Video Resolution, and keep all of that in a single server-side pass — there is no need to round-trip through a compress-xvid step first. The howto walks through the four panels in order.

What is the difference between WTV and DVR-MS?

DVR-MS was the recorded-TV format used by Windows XP Media Center Edition. It wrapped audio and video streams in an ASF container and used the .dvr-ms extension. Microsoft replaced it with WTV starting with Windows Media Center TV Pack 2008 — WTV does not use ASF, has a different on-disk layout, and added richer metadata and DRM hooks. If your target is older XP MCE hardware specifically, DVR-MS is what that machine wants; for Vista TV Pack 2008 and Windows 7 WMC, WTV is the correct format.