How to convert .FLV(Flash) to .WMV, .AVI or any other format?
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In my last post on ‘How to Download Video, not just from YouTube?, I mentioned that the downloaded file will be in .flv format (Flash). I also gave links to some of the free FLV players. But, if you want to use that downloaded video in another or friends computer which doesn’t have FLV player then every time you have to install FLV player in all computers.
But it’s possible to convert FLV files to WMV, AVI or any other format you prefer and it’s easier than you think. The best part is you might already have that software installed in your computer.
So, How to convert FLV to WMV, AVI or any other format?
VLC player is one of the software which is widely used and which plays any format of audio or video (including .flv). The less known fact is that it also helps to convert audio and video file formats. Follow these steps to convert .flv to .wmv, .avi or any other format.
Note: If you don’t have VLC player yet, then you can download from VideoLan. It’s an open source!
Step 1: Load the .flv file into VLC player and press Stop. (If you are using large file then it may take some time to load, so wait till the whole file is loaded and then press stop. Otherwise you may not be able to transcode the full file)
Step 2: Go to File -> Wizard. It will give you a pop-up ‘Streaming/Transcoding Wizard‘.
Step 3: Select Transcode/Save to file and Click Next.
Step 4: Select Exisiting Playlist Item and the file you have just loaded will be listed there.
Step 5: Highlight the .flv file and click Next.
Step 6: In the next screen, Select Transcode Video and from the drop down box choose WMV3 (this has highest quality, though the output of the file may differ as per the original .flv file). If you are having problem with WMV3, try using WMV2.
Step 7: Select Transcode Audio and from the drop down box choose MP3 (for the quality to be higher, leave it at the default bitrate of 192) and click Next.
Step 8: choose ‘ASF‘ as the ‘Encapsulation Format‘ and click Next.
Step 9: You will be asked to select the file to save to, click ‘Choose‘ and browse to the folder where you want your new file to be saved.
Step 10: !!!Important!!! Type in the file name in the ‘File’ field with the extension of .WMV (example, lytebyte.wmv)
Step 11: Click Finish and wait for couple of seconds and the new file is ready.
Step 12: Use the new .WMV file in any player!
Earlier Update: In case if you are not able to transcode the full file, it may be because the file was not fully loaded before it was transcoded. Read Step 1 or this comment for more.
Or if you are facing some green garbage video for first few seconds, try using wmv2 instead of wmv3. Thanks Shawanta for this tip and MoYaKa for confirming it.
Update [Jan 11, 2009] Also, some have reported some changes in the new version of VLC. See Paul’s comments on how to convert using new VLC versions. Thanks Paul and Karl for confirming it.
Earlier Note: VLC has not yet released the new version for Vista but it works for most of the cases except for some rare extension types. Find out ‘How to make VLC player work in Vista?‘
If you are reading this post then you are probably downloading videos from internet. Use this new easiest method to download online videos using real player, read more on “How to Download Youtube and Other Online Videos using Real Player?“
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Great Joel
This one is really gona help me convert all my YouTube videos to AVI so that I can give them to my friends
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QUESTION???????????????
Dear Sir,
Thank for information, I did what u said, but i got problem that when it converted to wmv format will change visual to be shot than the original (flv player)
Hey, man. Fabulous work. Keep it up. And your entry was a great help, so thank you!
=)
McMuffin
I would like to know how to convert .wmv files into flash video.
Thanks
I have it in the format i want. But when i click on it it wont play. whats wrong?
I have a problem the .flv file was transcoded properly, but it only converted 17 seconds of the 17 min video.
i can’t get the VLC player to convert entire videos, like VU, i get seconds worth of five to ten minute flv files
if i am doing something wrong please let me know
Can u send the link from where i can download the free FLV converter. Or send me the software.
Regards…..
I was able to convert an already downloaded .flv file to .wmv, using these instructions. But forgive me for being demanding. I have further questions.
A friend of mine’s husband sends her the URLs to youtube videos. She asked me to figure out a way to play them in her plain old DVD player.
Is this possible?
Is it reasonably easy, once you know how?
The first step, if I have been paying attention, would be open a stream, not an existing file, correct?
Then proceed as per the instructions above, except picking an output format other than .wmv?
So, what is the native format for dumb DVD players?
Should most DVD players be able to play a DVD which has a single file in their native format copied onto it?
If the DVD has multiple files copied to it, does it require some kind of table of contents?
A lot of questions, I know, but I will give anyone who takes a crack at them a very gracious thank you. I promise!
Cheers!
@George, If you have any dvd writer in your computer, it would have come with DVD writer software like Nero or something of that sort. Using that you will be able to burn dvd which can be read in DVD players. There will be an option like data format which can be read only in computers so you should select the other options. Let me know which burning software you are using so that I can say the options clearly.
hey
thanx, ur a genius
Thnx dude great stuff
Although i manage to convert flv videos into wmv format,the graphic for the first few seconds turn entirely green before turning to its normal state after about 3 to 5 second…. What wrong?
i hope you could tell me what is wrong…..thanks
Great Tip, really I appriciate but it convert only 2min movie. How can i convert complete movie i try another software but those required registration otherwise watar mark will come on movie, please let me know via email if VLC convert complete movie?
Thanks
why my VLC player does not have the WMV3 extencion it only goes up to WMV2
dear hi
once i switch to WM codec for video i dont get proper video in the end sound is ok with mp3. But once i switch to mp3 format for video in the end video is ok but sound is not there, help me
Khurram
Actually you will be able to know if it works if it goes really slow because that when you know its processing hope that helped.
Hi,
I used an earlier version of the VLC Player – Wizard to converted a Youtube FLV to WMV to play on my HP6515 Pocket PC and it worked fine. I’ve since upgraded my VLC Player and convertered another FLV to WMV. Video pays ok but no sound.
Any ideas why?
Rick.
Thanks…now I can use some of these clips on science in my class to illustrate things like how the heart beats, THANKS.
I was able to go through the steps to convert the file from flv to wmv, but all I got when I played it was audio.
any idea why?
Hi,
It seems that a lot of people are having the same problem I am. I just tried this with a 4 minute long video and only got about five seconds.
Seeing as several people have this problem, does anyone have an explanation or a fix for it?
Thanks!
George, First I would like to tell you how much I appreciate this resource, your willingness to share intelligence, and shareware/pc no-how in general as I truly value useable knowledge. Now that being said, I was elated to find your info on transcoding flv.format to wmv.etc, and even though it works, I have a couple of questions that I would like to ask. First, the first instruction was to “load” the file into the device. I have found at least 2 ways to do this. Would you mind elaborating on that just a little? And second, The first 10-20 seconds of the finished product is blued out, almost inverted. Could this be something that I am doing or not doing, or is it a trait of the process? Thanks again, Bruce
Mr Byte, I’m sorry that I called you by the wrong name. I do not know where I pulled the name ‘George’ from. Forgive me. I’m cramming for exams on Monday, and I’ve got way too much going on in the limited confines of my feable mind. ~Bruceman~
@Bruce and everyone…
After so much of comments on this issue, I tried to convert 4 min .flv file to .wmv and I was able to convert every second of that video with the same quality.
Some suggestions that I can think of are, If your memory is low try to avoid running other applications while VLC is transcoding. Make sure the same file is not opened in some other players at the same time.
I am using VLC Media Player 0.8.6c (wxWidgets Interface) in Windows Vista Home Premium
@Bruce, To load a file in VLC Media Player these are the steps I followed.
File -> Open File -> Browse button near open -> Select the file -> click Ok
I had the advanced options (Stream/Save and Caching) unchecked.
I managed to convert a 56min flv file but there was only sound when I played it back. I had closed down everything else like you suggested but I must be doing something wrong. Help please.
Charlie
Hi! Converting from flv to wmv resulted in perfect video without any audio. Any suggestions?
Thank you.
Achelle
@Achelle, Did you check the trascode audio box as in step 7?
@Charlie, are you sure you checked both the boxes for transcode audio and video?
Omg, Thank you. I have been looking for a freeware to do this and I find out vlc could do this all along.
Thank you.
Some videos are harder to transcode… I am also just getting sound and no video.
I THINK I HAVE THE ANSWER TO THE FULL VIDEO PROBLEM
I had the same problem of not having the full video saved.
the reason for the problem some of you are experiencing may be because after you press “finish”, you stop it before it has time to load. instead of having a loading bar, it uses something that resembles the video pregress bar that shows up when you play videos. let this get to the end (it will stat after you press “finish”) and then you should have the entire video saved. hope this helps. i will probabaly not be checking back here so sorry if i am not clear.
Thanks for that tip….
Hi Mr. Byte!
Thank you for suggestion. I checked off audio and video boxes. I can play You Tube flv files perfectly but without any audio at all on my Pocket PC with Windows Mobile 2003. I have one WMV video codec that plays normally with a WMA audio codec. I was wondering how I could listen to pure mp3 files but not a video with WMV video codec and mp3 audio codec.
This is awesome help to me. A solution for free to convert you filetypes. Thanks for the site. Very good !
Hi,
Awesome work.Well you just proved mind is like a parachute .If you dont open it won’t work…n none of us opened it to check out the features on vlc until now.
Thanxxxxxxxx!!!!!
can some1 please tell me where’s the problem that sometimes when Im converting flv to avi/wmv/whatever audio is faster than video or video is faster than audio ?
awesome thanks a bunch
hi i converted to wmv and i type the extension at the end but when i hit play all i get is sound
hey
this is a huge help
thanks a lot for posting it up!!!
its really clear and easy to follow
once again, thanks!
Thx…but i have a problem wen i tried playing it with windows media player. The audio was fine but the video was squeezed to a tiny strip. I checked the dimensions for the file and it said 320×262, and wut i saw was more like 10×20. I hope u get wut i mean. Got any ideas on how i can fix this??? Thank u very much!!!
Hi, when converting flv to wmv, the first 10 seconds of the wmv are showing in green. How can I solve this please? Thanks a lot!
HEY THAT HELPED A WHOLE LOT GOOD WORK
Hi Mr. Byte, i’m having the same Vedio problem. I’ve done the whole steps, step by step. I only get the Audio without the vedio. i tried different sources of clips but i still had the same problem. I checked bothe boxes for Vedio and Audio. It only worked once without any problems. But didn’t work again, i don’t know why!! ,,,, thanks for ur help and providing the program
I tried it again,,,,,,,, it only works with clips from YouTube. It will only give Audio without video from other sites,, Even thought all the clips are “flash video”
not sure why!!
sorry for not posting in one comment ,,, but i keep trying new stuff around to figure out whats the problem. and evey now and then i find a new stuff. When downloading a clip from youtube ,, downloading takes longer time than downloading from another website ,, when comparing relativley the same length clips… i think this has something to do with the problem ,, still not sure why!!
all of them are flash video
This is not working i can hear the sound but the video is not working…Does anyone know a better program then this because i tried 50 .flv files and all i get is sound and no video
mike
SOMEONE PLEASE HELP
I followed your directions when converting a clip from LiveLeak. It worked perfectly.
HOWEVER, like many others, when I try to convert a file from YOUTUBE, the beginning 5-10 seconds (depending on the video clip) has a green wash screen over the actual video. This green (at the beginning only) is not visible when playing the same video in the FLV mode.
ANY IDEAS AS TO WHY?
Thank you for your time, help and expertice!