Convert MKV to WMV Online
Convert Matroska MKV files to WMV for Windows Media Player. Free, in the browser.
.mkv · up to 100 MB
Windows compatibility
MKV to WMV: your Matroska collection in the Windows ecosystem
Classic Windows Media Player
WMV is native in Windows Media Player 6–12 on XP, Vista, 7, and 8. No LAV Filters or Matroska splitters needed.
Blu-ray rips and anime
Convert your MKV collection with H.265, BD rips, and anime fansubs to the format Windows plays without configuration.
100% local, no servers
FFmpeg.wasm processes the video in your browser. Your private collection is never uploaded to any server.
Windows Media Center
Add your MKV movies to the Windows Media Center library on Windows XP MCE, Vista, and 7 by converting to WMV.
How it works
Three steps, no hassle
Upload your MKV file
Drag or select your .mkv: Blu-ray rips, anime downloads, movies, or any Matroska file.
WMV conversion in your browser
FFmpeg.wasm re-encodes the video (H.264, H.265, x265, VP9, or any MKV codec) to WMV2 and the audio to WMA, without uploading anything to servers.
Download your WMV
Get the .wmv file compatible with Windows Media Player, Windows Media Center, and the complete Microsoft ecosystem.
FAQ
Got questions?
The Matroska container (MKV) is not natively compatible with Windows Media Player or Windows' DirectShow subsystem without installing third-party splitters like Haali's MKV Splitter or LAV Filters. Windows 10 and 11 added partial MKV support in the Movies & TV app (modern Windows Media Player), but classic Windows Media Player (wmplayer.exe, versions 6 through 12) cannot read MKV. Converting to WMV guarantees compatibility with any Windows version without installing additional software.
Yes. FFmpeg.wasm can decode H.265/HEVC, including 4K HDR Blu-ray rips. However, re-encoding to WMV2 is done at a maximum resolution of 1920×1080 (1080p) as WMV2 does not efficiently support 4K. If your MKV is 4K, the resulting WMV will be 1080p with automatic downscaling.
The WMV/ASF format does not support subtitles in separate tracks the same way MKV does. Text subtitles (SRT, ASS, SSA) from the MKV are not transferred to the WMV. If you need subtitles, you will need to burn them (render them into the video) before converting, or use a player like VLC that supports both MKV and external .srt files.
Yes. For MKV with multiple audio tracks (Japanese dub, English, Spanish, commentary), the tool converts the first audio track by default. If you need a specific track, extract the desired audio first with a separate tool. The main video track is always converted regardless of how many video tracks the MKV has.
Not necessarily. WMV2 is less efficient than H.264 and significantly less efficient than H.265. An anime MKV with H.265 at 1.5 GB will likely produce a WMV of 3–6 GB at equivalent quality. If file size matters, consider whether you actually need WMV or whether Windows 10/11 Media Player or VLC can play the original MKV.
Yes. Windows Media Center (available in Windows XP MCE, Vista, and Windows 7) does not natively play MKV but does play WMV. To add your MKV movie collection to a Windows Media Center library, converting to WMV is the most compatible solution without additional plugins.
Convert MKV to WMV: Matroska for Windows Media Player, Windows Media Center, and the Microsoft ecosystem
The Matroska format (MKV) was created in 2002 by the Matroska.org project as an open-source multimedia container based on EBML (Extensible Binary Meta Language), a binary markup language inspired by XML but optimized for high-performance data structures. Matroska became the de facto container for high-quality video distribution over the internet during the 2000s and 2010s: it is the universal format for DVD and Blu-ray rips, anime fansubs, high-definition video downloads from trackers and P2P platforms, and digital movie collections on hard drives. Its main technical advantage is the ability to store multiple video tracks, multiple audio tracks in any codec (AAC, AC3/Dolby Digital, DTS, DTS-HD Master Audio, TrueHD/Dolby Atmos, FLAC, MP3), multiple subtitle tracks in various formats (SRT, ASS/SSA, VobSub for image subtitles, PGS for Blu-ray), chapters, and metadata, all in a single ordered file. MKV supports video codecs from any generation: current H.264, H.265/HEVC, VP9, AV1, and historical MPEG-2, DivX/Xvid (MPEG-4 Part 2), VP8, and many others. The container is technically far superior to Microsoft's ASF/WMV in virtually every dimension, but presents a fundamental problem in the Windows ecosystem: Windows Media Player (wmplayer.exe) in versions 6 through 12, the default player for Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, and 8.1, does not read MKV natively without installing third-party DirectShow filters such as LAV Filters, ffdshow tryout, or Gabest's Haali Media Splitter. Windows 10 and Windows 11 added partial MKV support in the new Movies and TV app (the modern Windows Media Player replacement), but classic Windows Media Player (wmplayer.exe) remains unchanged and cannot open MKV files on any Windows version without third-party filters.
Converting MKV to WMV is especially relevant in several well-defined scenarios: users with Windows XP, Vista, 7, or 8 who do not have LAV Filters or other third-party MKV splitters installed and cannot or do not want to install them; corporate environments where IT policy prohibits installing unapproved additional software; movie collections intended for Windows Media Center on Windows XP MCE, Vista, or Windows 7 (the last Windows version with integrated Media Center before Microsoft removed it in Windows 8.1); and corporate video libraries on intranets based on Windows Media Services. The technical process extracts the main video track and first audio track from the MKV container, re-encodes the video to WMV2 (compatible with DirectShow since Windows Media Player 8, year 2001) and the audio to WMA version 2 or 9. Managing the diversity of source codecs in MKV is one of the main technical challenges of the conversion: while H.264 and H.265 have well-established and optimized decoders in FFmpeg (libavcodec), MKV files with VP9 codec (common in content downloaded from YouTube or Google Video rips), AV1 (the next-generation codec developed by the Alliance for Open Media with specification published in 2018 and widely adopted since 2020), or DTS, DTS-HD, TrueHD, or FLAC audio require full stream decoding before WMV2 re-encoding. FFmpeg.wasm supports all these codecs via WebAssembly without installing anything additional. The FFmpeg.wasm pipeline also correctly handles MKV files with multiple video tracks (some anime BDs include clean opening/ending as alternate video tracks) by always selecting the first video stream as the main track for WMV output, and supports chapter metadata passthrough to the ASF container where the format allows.
Convertir.ai runs the MKV to WMV conversion entirely in the browser via FFmpeg.wasm, without sending files to any external server. For movie collectors, anime enthusiasts with large fansub libraries, and users with MKV files of personal or family value, this ensures their private collection remains on their device throughout the entire conversion process, with no frames sent to third-party servers. Unlike alternatives such as Handbrake (an excellent desktop tool requiring download and installation, with an interface oriented toward technical users), VLC (which can transcode via its conversion interface but is not designed as a mass-use file converter), or cloud services like Convertio or CloudConvert (which upload the file and process it on remote servers), this tool provides the exact combination of ease of use, complete privacy, and Windows ecosystem compatibility without installing anything. It is especially useful for those who want to prepare collections of anime, classic films, or downloaded MKV content for playback on a Windows PC running Windows Media Center on Windows 7 — the last version with this functionality, before Microsoft removed it in Windows 8.1 — or for direct playback in classic Windows Media Player on systems running Windows XP, Vista, or 7 where third-party Matroska filters are not installed. It is also the ideal solution for Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 users, who received an updated Windows Media Player without native MKV support and without Windows Media Center, making WMV conversion the only path to playing their MKV collection on those systems. No registration, no watermarks, no usage limits, and the conversion works fully offline after the initial page load.