converting WMV to MP4

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hairy_bush

SLF Refugee
May 20, 2016
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can anyone suggest a good free software?

I tried VLC player..but it doesn't convert correctly, the output file is way too small

I use Handbrake..but it takes a really long time..if it's a 45min wmv file ..it takes my computer an 1 hour to convert.

could be my computer is old and slow?
 
hairy_bush said:
can anyone suggest a good free software?

I tried VLC player..but it doesn't convert correctly, the output file is way too small

I use Handbrake..but it takes a really long time..if it's a 45min wmv file ..it takes my computer an 1 hour to convert.

could be my computer is old and slow?
Click to expand...
I think AVIDEMUX does it. Free and easy to use.
 
If you don't want crap quality, it's gonna take time, no way around it and you still lose a bit of quality every time you re-encode regardless so unless you have a good reason to do it, better leave it as a wmv.

You can just move the video out of the wmv container and put in into an mp4 container without changing it but that's not a good idea for wmv, they're handled much better inside of a wmv container.
 
Last edited:
SamKook said:
If you don't want crap quality, it's gonna take time, no way around it and you still lose a bit of quality every time you re-encode regardless so unless you have a good reason to do it, better leave it as a wmv.

You can just move the video out of the wmv container and put in into an mp4 container without changing it but that's not a good idea for wmv, they're handled much better inside of a wmv cxontainer.
Click to expand...

thanx for all suggestions

unfortunately my stash has grown and now with all these great fc2 vids and uncen leaks..I'm running out of space

Therefore I'm converting some WMVs to mp4 so I can trim them. I keep only the fuck scenes.

it's been a hit or miss when converting....

When using avidemux..I get an error

When using VLC, I get a tiny file

When using Handbrake the MP4 file is sometimes 2x the size of the original wmv or sometimes its about the same size as the original

hmmm....maybe its time to get a new computer
 
The size is going to depend on the settings you use for encoding. If you use fast settings, the file will be bigger than with slower ones. The issue isn't the software you're trying, it's that you're not changing the settings to suit your needs.

To give you an idea of how the settings can affect file size, I did a test long ago using the exact same quality to encode the same video with the different speed presets: https://www.akiba-online.com/threads/wmv-to-mkv-re-encoding-help.1082131/post-2090532

If your goal is to cut out scenes, you can use asfbinwin and do it directly on the wmv file without re-encoding the videos at all.
 
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SamKook said:
The size is going to depend on the settings you use for encoding. If you use fast settings, the file will be bigger than with slower ones. The issue isn't the software you're trying, it's that you're not changing the settings to suit your needs.

To give you an idea of how the settings can affect file size, I did a test long ago using the exact same quality to encode the same video with the different speed presets: https://www.akiba-online.com/threads/wmv-to-mkv-re-encoding-help.1082131/post-2090532

If your goal is to cut out scenes, you can use asfbinwin and do it directly on the wmv file without re-encoding the videos at all.
Click to expand...

OMG I luv you!! I had no idea what to do with 3.0gb-5gb WMV files.

I had paid for a WMV editor more than 10 years ago, but I lost the license key to it.
 
Please try this script
ffmpeg -i input.wmv -c:v libx264 -crf 23 -c:a aac -q:a 100 output.mp4

I converted my old wmv file without any problems
 
UriF said:
Please try this script
ffmpeg -i input.wmv -c:v libx264 -crf 23 -c:a aac -q:a 100 output.mp4

I converted my old wmv file without any problems
Click to expand...
That's basically the same as using handbrake, but with different default settings.
The resulting file size will vary from one video to the next since the wmv is a fixed bitrate and you're using crf which is a variable bitrate since it tries to keep the quality constant. You didn't specify the difference in filesize you get from the mp4 compared to the wmv or how long it takes to encode compared to the video playtime so hard to say if it would actually help hairy or not.
His issue isn't not being unable to encode the video, he's done it successfully in all his attempts from what he mentioned in this thread. The issue is using the wrong settings for what he wants to achieve and having unrealistic expectation of the time it takes to keep the quality decent and the file size low(assuming that's part of his goal).
 
yes must keep quality or make it better!!....

but now samkook has told me how to cut WMVs..so i can make them smaller......then if I wanted I could convert the smaller wmv to mp4 which would be much faster...so that I can make gifs
 
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