How To Convert Windows Media Center (.wtv) Video File To Other Formats?

Do you know the default recording format for a video file in Windows Vista’s Media Center is .wtv? Also do keep in mind that Microsoft has shifted from the old .dvr-ms format to the new .wtv format.

Though you can find many commercial applications for converting .wtv format files to .avi or .mpeg, but unfortunately you won’t find many free application that do this conversion from .wtv files.

Therefore, probably the best way to convert .wtv files is to first convert them to dvr-ms and then convert them to other video formats. Amateurs may find this trick a little difficult but it has its worth.

So before you begin, you will have to download a free command line tool called ToDvrms. Place the .exe file of ToDvms i.e todvms.exe at the same location where the .wtv files is located. Now enter the command line shown below:

todvrms.exe c:test.wtv c:test.dvr-ms

This is what it will look like in the command prompt.

In this particular case, we have assumed that ‘C’ is the destination of the video file, and ‘test’ is the name of the video file. This command line will convert test.wtv in C drive into test.dvr-ms.

The developer also provides access to another tool that can be used to convert dvr-ms videos to another video format. The software DVRMSToolbox comes with a graphical user interface and can be used to convert the dvr-ms videos.

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