How to convert MOV to WMV online
- 1
Drop your MOV file
Drag your QuickTime Movie file onto the box above, or click it to pick a file.
- 2
Wait a few seconds
Conversion starts on its own and runs on your device, not on a server.
- 3
Download your WMV
Click Download to save the Windows Media Video file.
MOV vs WMV: format overview
QuickTime Movie
Apple · 1991
- Compression
- lossy
- Transparency
- No
- ✓ High quality, preferred by Apple ecosystem
- ✓ Supports ProRes codec for editing
- ✗ Poor Windows/Android compatibility without QuickTime
Windows Media Video
Microsoft · 2003
- Compression
- lossy
- Transparency
- No
- ✓ Good compression for Windows-native workflows
- ✓ DRM support for content protection
MOV magic bytes: 00 00 00 xx 66 74 79 70 71 74
WMV magic bytes: 30 26 B2 75 8E 66 CF 11
Why convert MOV to WMV?
You're sharing a video with a corporate contact whose Windows PC doesn't have QuickTime installed — and Apple stopped distributing QuickTime for Windows in 2016. Without QuickTime, a MOV file is unplayable in Windows Media Player, and your contact doesn't have VLC either. WMV is the format Windows Media Player plays natively on every Windows machine without any additional software.
MOV is Apple's container and its codec requirements mean Windows systems without specific software support can't open it reliably. WMV sidesteps this entirely — it's what Windows expects. Older PowerPoint versions also had better support for WMV as an embedded video format. Corporate intranets, internal training platforms from the early 2010s, and Windows-based digital signage systems frequently specify WMV as their input requirement.
Converting MOV to WMV involves full transcoding to Microsoft's VC-1 codec. Quality is comparable to H.264 at high bitrates (4–8 Mbps for HD). The resulting WMV is only reliably playable on Windows — macOS requires Flip4Mac or VLC, and Linux needs GStreamer WMV codecs. If you need cross-platform compatibility, MP4 is a better choice. Convert to WMV only when the Windows-only destination specifically demands it.
Quality & file size: MOV to WMV
Typical sizes: MOV 150–500 MB (1 minute 1080p); WMV 50–150 MB (1 minute 720p).
Frequently asked questions
When would I need to convert MOV to WMV specifically?
Is WMV still relevant in 2025?
Your MOV file never leaves this tab — FormatDrop has no endpoint that receives file data. How it works