Windows Media Video

A set of video codecs and its accompanying video coding formats, known collectively as Windows Media Video (WMV), were created by Microsoft. In addition, it is a component of the Windows Media framework. A video file in WMV may be encoded using three different codecs: In order to compete with RealVideo, the original video compression technique known as WMV was created specifically for Internet streaming applications. WMV Screen and WMV Image, the other two compression algorithms, are designed to handle specific information. After becoming a standard by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), WMV version 9 was modified to work with physical-delivery media such as HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc. This version of WMV is referred to as VC-1. The video encoded by Windows Media Video is stored in a digital container format called Advanced Systems Format, which was created by Microsoft as well.

In 2003, Microsoft created a video compression specification based on their WMV 9 format and presented it to the Society for Motion Picture and Television Engineering (SMPTE) for consideration. The standard, SMPTE 421M, sometimes known as VC-1, was formally adopted in March 2006, establishing the WMV 9 format as an open standard. H.262/MPEG-2 Part 2 and H.264/MPEG-4 AVC were the other two video formats supported by the Blu-ray video disc, with VC-1 serving as the third format.