What is a .WTV file?
The .WTV file extension stands for Windows Recorded TV Show File. This type of file is a video file that is created when you use Windows Media Center to record television shows. Windows Media Center is a program that allows you to watch and manage multimedia content on your computer, including recording TV programs.
A .WTV file stores the video using MPEG-2 compression, which helps reduce the file size while maintaining good video quality. The audio in these files can be compressed using MPEG-1 Layer II or Dolby Digital AC-3 compression, both of which are common formats for audio compression that help to preserve sound quality.
In addition to video and audio, .WTV files can contain extra information such as metadata, which provides details about the content of the file like the title of the show, episode, and air date. They may also include digital rights management (DRM) information, which is used to protect the copyright of the content by preventing unauthorized copying or distribution.
You can open .WTV files with several different programs. Some of the most popular ones include: 1. **VideoLAN VLC media player** - A free and open-source media player that can handle a wide variety of file formats. 2. **File Viewer Plus** - Available from the Microsoft Store, this program can open and convert various file types, including .WTV files. 3. **Microsoft Windows Media Center** - This is the program that originally creates .WTV files, and it is included with some versions of the Windows operating system. 4. **CyberLink PowerDVD 21** and **CyberLink PowerDirector 365** - These are commercial software programs that provide robust support for playing and editing .WTV files. 5. **Nero 2022** - A comprehensive suite for burning, copying, creating, editing, playing, streaming, ripping, and converting multimedia files. 6. **DRD Systems VideoReDo** - This software is specifically designed for editing MPEG videos and can handle .WTV files. 7. **DVRSoft WTV to AVI Converter** - As the name suggests, this program can convert .WTV files into AVI format.
By default, .WTV files are saved in the \Users\public\Recorded TV\ directory on your computer. If you need to convert a .WTV file back into the older .DVR-MS format, you can do so directly within Windows Media Center by right-clicking the
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