What is .wmv format? And Why WMV file is not playing?
.wmv is the abbreviation of Windows Media Video, which is a kind of video format and created by Microsoft and designed for Internet streaming applications. Because of its features of high-quality with high compression, it has become one of the most favorite and popular video formats around the world. Based on that, a specialized player is required for its playback such as “Windows Media Player” from Microsoft. However, the iPhone holders usually face a problem that is not allowed to do when they get a .wmv format video and try to play it directly under the unique and closed Apple Ecosystem, which is only supporting the video playing on the video formats of .mov and .mp4 directly.
Then, a question appears: How can I play the .wmv videos on my iPhone?
Don’t Worry, there will be presenting a few methods about how to play the .wmv videos on iPhone for you.
Quick Navigation:
Method 1: Play .wmv Videos on your iPhone using Functional Video Player.
As a smart system, Apple offers users’ right to download applications from the third-party to reach some objectives if they offer the available versions on Apple’s ecosystem.
Thus, if your preference is mobile phone only and you do not prefer to use a computer, this is a good choice.
The steps are simple as well as downloading any other application on your iPhone:
Open your App Store, and turn to the search page, then type the name of the application you want to search or relevant keywords in the search field like “Windows media player”. Then you will get a listing page of the target application, choose the application you want, click on the “GET”.
Furthermore, you may face an iPhone account secure identification for the download such as a password or fingerprint and face recognition.
To provide you the most suitable .wmv player, we roughly tested some of the popular .wmv players in the iPhone’s App Store and got the following recommended players.
However, the iPhone application is also meaning that the .wmv format videos should be placed in the iPhone or could be accessed through the iPhone. Otherwise, it is necessary to transfer the videos into your iPhone from other places. Furthermore, that will occupy your iPhone’s virtual memory.
Therefore, if you do not want to do this import process or the virtual memory is not enough, the VLC Streamer Lite will be another choice for you.
VLC Streamer Lite provides a possibility for users to play and watch videos from their PC on their iPhone. But it required the installation of helper on your PC, and the application only works under the situation when the application and the PC’s Helper are both launched under the same WI-FI connection.
An omelet cannot be made without breaking eggs, the multi-functional video player usually interprets the special video format through the built-in encoder to achieve the effect of direct play, which means it will occupy a lot of ram at runtime, but different from the computer, the mobile phone as a portable device, its various configuration is far lower than the computer.
In other words, when the target device is a mobile phone when running a multi-function video player to play a special video format like .wmv format video, your phone great fluency may be reduced. The high RAM usage is often leading to slow the loading of the videos, the problems of the jam and in influence when play videos, and even the application crashes.
Tips: RAM is the running memory of a device, which is an essential part to determine and support the maximum capacity of a device that can be operated at the same time. So far, the iPhone’s maximum RAM is only 4GB, and the RAM iPhone 8 is still 2GB.
Method 2: Open .wmv on iPhone by Converting format.
Based on potential problems that might exist from the last method, the second method about how to play .wmv video on your iPhone is using Converter. By operating the target video files on the computer, you can convert the video format to the video formats supported by the iPhone, such as .mp4 and .mov. Finally, you just need to transfer that into the iPhone to play it directly through the built-in video player.
The following will use the example of the Aiseesoft Video Converter Ultimate, one of the most wildly used Video format conversion tool, to teach you how to convert the .wmv video into the specific format iPhone required and play it on your iPhone.
Phase One: Preproduction
Prepare the required program:
Select the appropriate version according to your computer’s operating system to download and install it considering your customary language environment.
Get the target .wmv format video ready, located it or place it in a convenient position like the desktop.
Phase Two: Covert Videos’ format
Launch the Aiseesoft Video Converter, and add the target .wmv format video file through the centered folder icon (or you can drag it here).
After the loading, click the arrow icon behind the target file box, there will be a format list for the output. Switch to the list of Apple under Device, find your match iPhone models. Furthermore, the output position of converted format videos could be chosen by the bottom box of option behind the “Save to”.
When everything is ready, click “Convert” on the right or “Convert All” on the bottom right of the program and the conversion will begin. Then you will get the iPhone format videos.
Tips: As one of the most powerful format conversion tools, Aiseesoft Video Converter offers more than a full range of multi-format video conversions. It also has a number of additional features to choose from during the conversion process, such as adding subtitles and wirelessly transferring files to your mobile device.
Phase Three: Import Converted Videos into your iPhone
When you get the converted .wmv format videos as the matching format and want to play it on your iPhone, the last phase is you have to use the tool to import it into your iPhone.
The most simple and common method is to use the iTunes on your computer to synchronize video files to your iPhone, but that means the videos on the computer and mobile phone video will all synchronization. otherwise, you can choose some famous iTunes Alternatives to finish the import, such as Switch Mobile Transfer, iCareFone and EaseUS MobiMover.
Once you’ve successfully imported the converted .wmv videos, you can play it on your iPhone without scruple.
Tips: There are lots of similar converters on the network but at least ensure whether the goal conversion tool is available for your computer system like macOS and Windows and whether it can support to convert .wmv formats to required .mp4 video or .mov format.
Method 3: One-Click to Transcode and Transfer the .wmv videos to your iPhone.
When it comes to video imports, it’s important to mention some interesting video transfer software could be counted as the third method for iPhone users to play videos in .wmv format, such as EaseUS MobiMover.
That is a transfer tool allowing the file transmission between the Apple’s mobile devices and computers, but what’s interesting about it is that it’s different from ordinary transmission tools in that it supports directly transferring the unsupported-formats of iPhone like .wmv to your iPhone and automatically converting them into the supported playback formats.
Although the tool of one-click transfer is still combing the functions of the converter and transferring as same as the method two essentially, it is simpler and easier for iPhone users to operate and make the file well-organized. It allows iPhone users to play .wmv format video with one-click, however, it cannot provide the powerful functions that converter can provide, such as video editing, two-way conversion and so on.
Tips: If your iPhone system is too old like below iOS 8, the converter from method 2 might be the only method matching for you, otherwise, you could try jailbreak to reach playing .wmv video on your iPhone.