How to: Convert WMV files without Flip4Mac

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How to: Convert WMV files without Flip4Mac

12 May 2011 3,238 views 6 Comments

There are two things I really and truly wish my Mac could do without — Adobe Flash and Windows Media anything, WMV files in particular. Whereas GitHub’s excellent ClickToFlash Safari Extension keeps Flash at arm’s length, dealing with WMV files has been more problematic — until now.

Prism from NCH Software, an Australia developer with a US branch, has scratched my WMV itch. No, it doesn’t allow browser playback, but you can download WMV as well as a host of video and audio format files and convert them into something useful.

Moreover, unlike the free version Flip4Mac, which watermarks conversions, Prism is free and converts WMV et al files to and from nine different (avi, mpg, 3gp, mp4, mov, flv, mp4 (iPod, PSP, iPhone, iPad), mp3 and wav) formats cleanly.

And, did I mention fast? Further, there are both PPC and Intel Macs, as well as a pro version ($40 and up) that supports more codecs — nice.

Neither WMV nor its bête noir, Flip4Mac, will trouble this Mac user for the foreseeable future.

Know of a free and/or cheap video conversion utility? Drop us a note with a link in the comments below…

6 Comments »

David Toub said:

I’ve managed to convert .wmv files to .m4v files perfectly fine just by using QuickTime, at least the latest version with Snow Leopard.

# 12 May 2011 at 12:23 pm

Lantz said:

@David Do you mean QuickTime X? I’ve been using QT7 Pro and F4M for so long that I haven’t even used QTX. What is QTX using to open WMV?

# 12 May 2011 at 3:54 pm

Fred said:

How about EasyWMV at $19.99?

http://www.easywma.com/wmv/

# 12 May 2011 at 11:42 pm

Yacko said:

“I’ve managed to convert .wmv files to .m4v files perfectly fine just by using QuickTime,”

Are you sure you don’t have Flip4Mac installed? Quicktime will access the codecs.

# 13 May 2011 at 12:29 am

How to play ASF files? VLC Media Player | FairerPlatform said:

[...] do you play asx/asf — yup, yet another form or Windows Media munge — streamed content without installing Flip4Mac? For long-time Mac users, the answer is obvious, [...]

# 28 May 2011 at 12:03 am

Flip4Mac 2.4 adds support for Lion, Safari 5.1, Firefox 64-bit, Chrome | FairerPlatform said:

[...] tea, but I get the convenience. That said, the only format covered by Flip4Mac that I haven’t found something better for is .wmv. Though I have no direct knowledge, about the only folks posting wmv format clips to [...]

# 21 September 2011 at 4:13 pm