Handbrake output .WMV

Question

I'm trying to convert .AVI files to something a DMA2100 (Windows Media Center Extender) has an easier time handling. I can play .avi files but if you stop the video you have to skip back to the same place very slowly as fast forward doesn't work and skip forward works poorly. I know .wmv's play back fine and I like the simplicity of handbrake but it doesn't give to many output codecs.

Is is possible to convert a video to .wmv with handbrake?

Answer 1

No.

Handbrake can only convert video using these codecs:

• FFmpeg's MPEG-4 visual codec
• x264
• XviD (support for this was dropped with 0.9.4*)

… and as a container** only supports:

• MKV
• MP4
• AVI (support for this was dropped with 0.9.4, especially since the AVI container is lacking so many features)

There aren't that many encoders for Windows Media Video out there. FFmpeg itself only supports encoding of WMV 7 and 8, not version 9. In your situation, I'm sure MP4 containers are properly handled by most playback software. The same goes for MKV, which is seeing more and more support these days.

_{* c.f. HandBrake abandons DivX for ripping DVDs, should you? - PC & Tech Authority}

_{** "Codecs" are stored inside "containers" – there's a difference in terminology here. See this answer for more: What is a Codec (e.g. DivX?), and how does it differ from a File Format (e.g. MPG)?}