Free online WTV to AVI converter

Windows Media Center recordings are saved as WTV, but older video editors, media players, and devices may require AVI. Converting creates a more widely recognized file, although the result depends on the codecs selected and any copy protection on the recording.

What the WTV format is

WTV is the Windows Recorded TV Show file format used by Windows Media Center in Windows Vista and later. It stores recorded digital television, including video, audio, captions, channel data, recording metadata, and sometimes multiple streams.

You typically encounter WTV files in the recorded-TV folder of an older Windows Media Center installation. The underlying video may use MPEG-2 or H.264, while audio and broadcast metadata vary by source. WTV replaced the older DVR-MS format.

What the AVI format is

AVI, or Audio Video Interleave, is an older Microsoft container supported by many legacy Windows applications, editing programs, and hardware players. It can contain several video and audio codecs, so an .avi extension alone does not identify the actual encoding.

AVI is useful when a target application does not accept WTV or when compatibility with older software matters. It is not inherently smaller or higher quality than WTV; the selected codecs determine file size, quality, and playback support.

How to convert WTV to AVI

Convert on 101convert.com

1. Open the video converter on 101convert.com.
2. Add the .wtv recording.
3. Select AVI as the output format.
4. Start the conversion and download the resulting .avi file when processing finishes.

This option requires no installed software. Large recordings may take longer to upload and process, and browser-based conversion may be unsuitable for recordings containing sensitive material.

Convert with FFmpeg

FFmpeg can read WTV recordings and encode an AVI containing MPEG-4 Part 2 video and MP3 audio, a combination accepted by many older programs:

ffmpeg -i input.wtv -c:v mpeg4 -q:v 3 -c:a libmp3lame -q:a 2 output.avi

Replace input.wtv with the actual filename. Lower -q:v values generally produce better video at the cost of a larger file; values around 2–5 are a practical range. The audio setting -q:a 2 uses variable-bitrate MP3 encoding.

To preserve interlaced television footage for an interlaced playback system, add -flags +ilme+ildct. For modern progressive playback, deinterlace during encoding instead, for example:

ffmpeg -i input.wtv -vf yadif -c:v mpeg4 -q:v 3 -c:a libmp3lame -q:a 2 output.avi

Do not normally use -c copy for this conversion. It attempts to copy the original streams without re-encoding, but the codecs and stream structure inside a WTV file may not be valid or reliable in an AVI container.

Quality, compatibility, and limitations

Re-encoding reduces quality because the video is decoded and compressed again. Keep the original WTV file for archival use, and test the AVI on the intended application before converting a large library.

AVI has limited support for modern features such as multiple audio tracks, captions, broadcast metadata, variable frame-rate video, and some H.264 configurations. A conversion may therefore retain only the selected audio and video streams and discard television metadata or subtitles.

Copy-protected WTV recordings may not decode or convert successfully. FFmpeg and other converters cannot bypass DRM; recordings affected by Windows Media Center copy restrictions require playback or export through software authorized for that protection scheme.