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!
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.
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?“
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
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!
I have followed the directions and I get sound but no video. If uncheck transcode audio, I do get video but of course no audio. If I check both video (WMV3) and audio (MP3), I only get audio. Tried it with several flv files and had the same problem.
this is would be awesome if i could get it to covert. ive tried over and over and all i get is audio with no video.
please help
thanx for everything
There seems to be a problem. When i load some flv files into the vlc player, the video does not show up, only the audio plays. So when i convert, only the audio is converted but it’s convert to a wmv file.
What’s up with that?
Hi,
I have the same problem ZAC all i get after conversion is audio
Omgosh, thank you! I was looking for an flv to wmv converter when I had one right in front of me. Thanks.
WOW!!! tnx dude……i almost shelled a few bucks till i found this….tnx again!
Why aren’t all these questions being answered on here? I am getting the same problems as everyone here. Am I missing something?
@MK and others, This works for most of the people including me…you may try some of these tips on why it may not work… [1], [2]…The common solution to the issues are if you are not able to transcode the full video, wait till the full video is loaded in VLC before you try to tanscode….if you are getting only audio or video, check if you are selecting to transcode both audio and video as per 6 and 7
The video is coded perfectly, but theres no audio. Anyone got a fix to this?
Thank you so much. It worked and I can play it on my winamp now. One minor problem though, every video I convert, in the beginning there will be green patches everywhere. After a few seconds though, it goes away. I was just wondering why there is green patches and what can I do to get rid of them. Thank you.
Hi, when converting flv to wmv, the first 10 seconds of the wmv are showing in green. How can I solve this please?
Thanks for the tutorial, everything seemed to be going well but after converting my videos they seem to vanish. I chose for them to be saved on my desktop but they never turn up. what do i do?
I’ve tried many times and it only plays the audio, no video. I’ve seen other people has the same problem and I checked many times the steps 6 and 7 but I’m still have the same problem. The audio is great, but I can’t see the video.
That is super helpful and you’re super sexy for sharing it. I’ve converted each and every second of seven videos absolutely trouble free. Kisses.
D
Hi,
This is an awesome tip.
I tried to convert a flv file using the steps you gave. The file is 3:44 in length, and I let the loading bar finish as suggested, and it says that it’s 3:44 but when I try to play the wmv file in Windows Media Player, it’s only 3:40 long - so the last few seconds of the video are cut off. Can anyone offer a suggestion?
Thanks!
I have found this to be great…just one problem. The audio does not convert with the video. I took a .flv file that is a little over 3 minutes in length…went through the wizard step by step…made sure that video and audio were checked and the settings were the recommended settings you gave. Once finished, it doesn’t just say filename.wmv it says filename.wmv -access file. So I remove the “-access file” and it becomes a movie. I play it and there is video…but no audio. Please help.
I attempted the conversion of along episode of zoey 101, twice, both times when I opened the new file in windows media player the audio transfered but the video was a think little bar. But when I opened the .wmv file in the vlc player it was perfect. Why is this?
Is it possible to use this converter to convert to iPod format? MP4?
If so, what options should I choose for the video/audio?
I tried MPEG-4 and MPEG-4 Audio, but when I transferred to iTunes, the movie was just a green/purple screen.
Thanks,
Steve
Great tip. The VLC player converts flv to wmv. Unfortunately it doesnt convert to WMA 9 audio ( I dont see that option in the audio transcoder). It wont play in the creative zen that i recently bought. Any plugins available that will allow this audio transcoding? Thanks!
can this convert MKV to AVI? if it does. how can i do it? thanks.
Wow!!!!that was brilliant
thanx a lot you saved me a lot of time as other softwares which were needed to convert took a lot of space and were not free
I have been using VLC for years to convert files, and I have always had the beginning of any movie be green for about ten to 15 seconds. I have tried everything to keep it from happening including waiting after I click finish. Most time its not a big deal to simply add the file into a movie editing program (Movie Makers sucks but thats what I have) and cut the first few seconds off. But from time to time it is a real downer for a specific use of desired video. But still VLC is awesome to even be able to do it with a little grern at the beginning. Its a great little piece of software that was and still is FREE!!! Still it would be nice to at least know why it happens. Seems to me that it is worse with You tube vids, but that may just be me. Anyway thanks for the help maybe someone will figure this out. Cause it sure isnt gonna be me I have tried everything.
Thanks so much, great tut!
Everything is good except the first few seconds with GREEN patches–
thanks
thanks a lot for this! know I know that I do not need a separate flv to mp3 converter after all!
Thanks a lot! Very useful and very clear! Good work.
I’m getting the same problem as eveyone else. I’ve been converting flv file to wmv and all i get is audio no video. I’ve been waiting for the whole file to load before I convert and it’s the same thing keeps happening. Does anybody have any suggestions?
thanks it really helped me convert online videos however i just noticed that the audio does not match with the video. There’s a little delay in audio.What’s wrong?
Also,as mentioned above in the beginning the screen turns green and then back to its normal appearance.What might be the problem?
Again, thanks.
For me . . .
When I use YouTube, everything works except I get the green thing everybody is mentioning.
Then I tried it on MySpace and I get audio but no video.
Thats what Ive come across so far.
Can’t find the file button
I followed all the instructions, and was able to change some videos but then I started getting some that start of green for the first 3-5 seconds. Help please
This was great… I didn’t knew that I can use VLC not only for decoding videos but also encoding them!!!
Thanks…
this is great.. thanks dude.. I will be able to make my .flv videos to .wmv to play them on my zune!
I have been doing a project which requires lots of flv files to be converted to work with Windows Media player, I found the ffmpeg tool in linux is WONDERFUL! and converting to the .mpeg format works well.
you can convert a whole bunch of .flv files in a directory with a command like this:
for f in *.flv; do ffmpeg -i $f ${f/.flv/.mpeg};done
Have fun
Can anyone answer why after I convert the .flv vid to wmv the beginning shows up green for about 5 seconds?
Any help would be appreciated!!
I just converted a film of 1hour and 13 minutes into wmv from flv and it worked ;). Thanks man ^^.
I was having the same problem, with no video and just audio. What did the trick was choosing WMV 2 in step 7 instead of WMV 3. I’m using vista, not sure if that makes a difference. Hope my trick helps some of you too!
@Shawnta, Thanks for that tip…
Doing WMV2 didn’t solve the issue for me. I’m only getting audio when I have both audio/video chosen in Windows Media Player -or- VLC. If I uncheck the audio settings, I get the video. VLC player 0.8.6e. Choosing different encapsulations also didn’t solve the issue.
I think this is a bug in VLC ignoring the video setting if audio is checked because I noticed it encoded much faster if both audio and video were checked, which doesn’t make sense unless video is the heaviest operation and it’s ignoring the checkbox for video.
Are the ones who had it work for them using VLC 0.8.6e?
An update: Although I couldn’t get audio and video when I was using a Flash 8 encoded FLV, when I changed the FLV to a Flash 7 flv, and both video and audio showed up (though the video looked a little wacky - like an embossing). Even though the Flash 8 video played in VLC, maybe it has issues encoding from a Flash 8 video?
Now to figure out why the embossing issue is happening, but at least this is a start.
argh, one thing I just noticed that I forgot to mention — the embossing issue goes away after 5 seconds of playback. Probably related to the “green video” issues others were seeing.
It actually worked, but for some odd reason, it has stopped making existing playlist item an option, I don’t get why, could you help?
Dear
I have downloaded the VLC player and trying to convert flv to wmv but when i try to open it on windows media player it says file format not supported please let me know how i can resolve this problem…
regards
please let me know how do i load the .flv file in VLC ….i just go to file and then open the file and play it …but it doesnt show that it is being loaded….
please help me
Thank you! This just helped me a ton for work!
I am attempting to use this method to create quality mp3’s from youtube videos to play on my ipod, but everytime I attempt to transcode just the audio I either end up with a video of just green w/e the audio or audio that plays for the first seven seconds and then is gibberish, literally, the rest of the time. Do you know how to fix this or how to create mp3s for ipod playing from a video?
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That
when i transcode the video and play it with Windows media player it sounds fine but the video is Full sized hight but only like 10 pixels wide, but if i play it with VLC its fine. Anyone had this problem it doesnt really make sense…
Hey this is a great tip.
Theres only one problem bugging me..
I can only get one, if i do Audio and Video, i get Audio only, if i do Video only i get video no Audio..
Any Suggestions?
Thanks Steve
This is so helpful! Thanks so much!
Thanks much for all the effort! I, too have the same green wash the first few seconds when I play the converted YouTube video into WMP or VLC player. Any chance of a fix?
WOW! Holy Cow! Do you absolutely ROCK, or what?!?
You are the Light at the end of a rather long, winding, irritating tunnel!
I’ve tried program after program (free) trying to find ways of doing ALL OF THESE VERY THINGS, and had no success at finding ways to do ANY of them without having a nasty watermark smack-dab in the center of the screen, or borking my computer, or requiring literacy in Computer Chinese to figure out.
This info here is SUCH A PHENOMENAL HELP!!! Thank You!
(Having the means to simply convert FLVs and MKVs to a burnable format seems simple and “no big deal”, but I’ve spent a RIDICULOUS amount of time and energy trying to do it– program after program, and it’s actually quite difficult. I believe THESE tutorial provide The Answer, PLUS the ability to have far MORE tasty vids!)
hi mr byte, i’ve succeeeded in converting the flv file to wmv. it plays fine on my computer, buti can’t play it in my mp3 player even though it’s able to play wmv file. a box comes up saying that it has one or more properties outside device limits. do you have any idea what it means? and what does it not being presented in the device user interface means too? hope you answer my question soon! thanks:)
Wow this is amazing! i managed to convert all my flv to wmv and manage to convert them to mp3 using another software!
Thank You!!
I am so greatful! But the problem is that for the first few seconds of the video clip, everything turns green. Help!!!
Much appreciated!
This technique works flawlessly.
Well … ALMOST flawlessly. I, too, am experiencing approximately 9 seconds of “green awfulness” at the beginning of certain FLVs, once they’ve been converted to WMV.
I’ve even managed to work out the command line equivalent of this process, for direct use in Total Commander ( %P%N –sout=#transcode{vcodec=WMV3,vb=1024,scale=1,acodec=mp3,ab=192,channels=2}:duplicate{dst=std{access=file,mux=asf,url=%T%N.wmv}} ) but this “green problem” does manifest occasionally, but only occasionally.
I see MANY people reporting this problem, myself included, but I see nobody reporting a solution to it.
DOES ANYONE KNOW OF ONE? The very latest version, 0.86f is completely unchanged in this respect.
What a pity. This was almost a perfect solution, but 9 seconds of green abortion is a deal-breaker, I’m afraid.
Please, anyone? Is there a solution? It looks like a deep, dark bug, deep within VLC somewhere.
If anyone has a solution, please post it here and put all of us out of our misery!
it works great. For those of you to lazy to read, thats why your having problems. Mr Byte posted the same answer many times and yet you refuse to follow instructions
Actually,Muqmuud, don’t be so quick to cast judgment on the dozens of people who have posted here… It may be YOU who are “too lazy to read”, because several people have reiterated the steps they took (as per the instructions) and still have no success… So being “too lazy to read” might be YOUR issue, but it isn’t everyone else’s.
Anyhow, I am grateful for VLC and the ability to convert files (hypothetically), as posting a couple of weeks ago reflects.
However, I too have these same issues everyone else does. Yes, everything is “ticked” as it should be, and all instructions have been followed TO THE LETTER… about 30 times or so, using FLVs from various sources. Some have a green stain at the beginning, one or two had the thinly compressed (and unwatchable) video with good audio, and most just give audio without video.
***SOLUTIONS***: Best I found is by selecting the DivX extention instead of WMV3. WMV3 is alot muddier in quality, but the DivX extension is very effective at producing a file with very good audio and video quality (use the free and awesome DivX Player and several other media players to playback videos with the DivX codec).
A SECONDARY SOLUTION takes more work to get inferior results than using DivX, BUT you can use VLC to convert:
1. An MP3 audio only file by ticking only “Transcode Audio”.
2. A video track (WMV3) by ticking ONLY “Transcode Video”.
Then, convert the MP3 into a WMA file (there’s lots of free converters out there for this) and then use Windows Movie Maker (or a similar program) to add the WMA audio track to the perfectly good (but silent) “video only” track that was made.
It’s extra stuff to do, and it compromises quality a bit more, but it works.
ANOTHER CONSIDERATION: WMV is alot more common than DivX is, it’s true…
But honestly, if the WMV3 setting is the BEST for quality, then I’d say none of this is really worth the time and energy I and others have invested…
Transcoding the video to DivX using VLC keeps the quality quite excellent by comparison.
Now… To find a good conversion program for DivX to WMV.
Hmmmm…
all im saying is i followed directions and it worked for me. so it should have worked for you.
a
l
a
h
Obviously, there is a bug! I am trying to convert flv file into wmv. I checked both video and audio transcode checkboxes and chose video codec wmv3, audio codec mp3, left bit rate values by default (1024 for video and 192 for audio). After all, i got wmv file only with video and no audio!
Vlc is truly an amazing free and eficient program
I just wanted to say this was the easiest step by step instructional guide i’ve ever used and the program is so fast. You would not believe all the converters I’ve been downloading and just have to go to the next one because the trials run out. I had no idea and I thank you SO MUCH!!! =)
My file works fine on Vlc but when I try to listen to it on a diffrent prgram it doesn’t work. It turns into a jumbled short squeeky version. I would like to know what to do.
Okay, I went to go convert it, and it only converted 5 to 15 seconds of the .flv videos I went to convert. It also messed up the video’s visual drastically, putting a bunch of green or fuzz, or absolutely nothing. I have no idea what to do. It never works for me.
This is awesome. Thanks.
Before now, I was using WinFF but I was having problems editing my videos in WMM… The video and audio will stop playing for no reason but the slider will keep moving. Thanks to VLC and this amazing “how-to” I’ve finally solved my problem.
I’ve bookmarked this site for sure! Thumbs up!
Typically, I use gnu4ffmpeg to convert to avi. It is only about 300kb large, and can also convert to dvd format.
thnx dude itz grt
I am using an IMAC. I follow directions except I don’t have the wmv 3 option. So I use wmv 2 option. Get the green at the beginning and no audio. Would like to use this program for downloaded videos but so far haven’t seen a solution to these problems.
Hey I used this to convert a youtube video, but it won’t let me play it once it was converted, it said that it was not a valid win32 application. I put the converted video onto powerpoint, and it played, but for the first 10 seconds there were large green pixels covering the screen. The video is onle 45 seconds long so the first 10 matter. how do I fix both of these problems?
thank you so much. it was a success
First of all Many thanks to Mr. Byte for starting this.
I was getting the same problems as others in that the outputted file was only showing several seconds of the video only.
However looking through the comments I noticed SHAWNTA’s tip to use WMV2 instead of WM3 which worked fine for me; so thank you Shawnta too.
@MoYaKa, Thanks for confirming that tip. It’ll be helpful to others who are having the same problem.
it’s great!
tanks a lot
Well I have tried this several times and in the past it always worked fine. Now when I try it I can only get audio and no video. have tried different combinations of all settings and can either get audio and no video or video and no audio.
great
I’m afraid changing from WMV3 to WMV2 does NOT fix the green screen problem at the beginning of files. This problem also occurs when trying to convert the .flv file to other formats as well, is there an alternative fix?
Real player works to download the video off of youtube or any site that has embedded video playing on it - if the download button pops up and you try to download and it works, then this technique works to convert the video from flash to another format.
I found an easier way to convert the file from flash to DVD directly without using the VLC player to convert - without losing video or audio on the video clip.
Use real player to download the video. Then I use AVS video converter which I purchased from AVS media tools. This program allows a person to convert one file format into another format.
Using AVS video converter, you open the folder and pick the clip you want to convert, pick the folder that you want the new formatted clip to goto - pick the quality of the video after especially with the DVD format, and convert to DVD or mp4 or AVI - depends on what format you want to convert it to. Once done, I use nero or DVD shrink to combine the video clips onto a single DVD that I can play in most DVD players.
This works - I used it a couple of days ago. Depending on the original clip - some may not work in AVS converter - but that was because the original clip was not in the greatest quality to begin with but this method works most of the time.
AVS converter is free to try but the free version puts a water mark in the video after it is converted but I bought the actual program and it was the best investment I purchased and it now works with converting video off of youtube or any other site that has embedded video on it.
update to my last post.
If you are going to convert clips, ONLY do one clip at a time. If you try to do more than one the audio and video can become out of sync and you will have to do them over again.
It may clutter up the hard drive with so many different folders but it saves time later if the audio/video are not in sync and you have to do it again.
Once you have all the clips converted, use nero or DVD shrink to compile onto a single DVD and once finished, just delete all the folders that you no longer need.
update to my last posts. Some flash videos you may not be able to convert using the method I used but for most of them, this method should work.
I tried to download a couple of videos from the Red vs blue website but when I opened the converter program, it would shut itself down.
I tried other videos from this site as well and they worked when I converted them.
This method works for most of the videos I downloaded and have converted to a DVD format.
have been trying to successfully do this for quite some time now, thanks a lot for your help.
Excellent info!!! Thanks a ton….its really helpful
I also had the ‘audio / no video problem. I tried to find a solution for 2 hours, without succes. To quote W.C. Fields:
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Then quit. There’s no use being a damn fool about it.
Apparently the problem is caused by ( i quote again) : a not supported combination of parameters or by a not supported video codec.
So my quest continued, and what do you know. There’s actually a (free !) program called ‘YouTube Downloader’ which solves all our problems (no offense mr. Byte)
http://youtubedownload.altervista.org/
If you can’t directly convert video’s from certain sites such as Break.com, all you have to do is to download them to your computer, and thén convert them to wmv.files.
It worked for me, so i hope i helped a few of you people out there.
grtz, Peter, Netherlands.
Reference to my other posts.
The realplayer/AVS converter method works pretty good but there might be a problem with audio/video syncing.
Depending on length, quality of the video and the way that the video was uploaded to whatever site you are downloading the video from, the audio/video may become out of sync.
I had this happen with a video clip. I downloaded 2 versions of the same clip.
When I converted the clip over, 1 clip had the sound and video out of sync about 4min in when the clip broke between scenes.
The second clip - exactly the same video but from a different person seemed to be in sync for the whole video.
Check them out once you convert them just to see there is a problem with the sync.
If you can find a good quality video to begin with helps as well.
Thank you so very much for the instructions.
I followed them directly, but the whole 5 second movie ended up green. I tried using the soultions posted but it still came out the same result.
Cgause - Did you follow the VCL player method because I never used that method and most (about 95% of the videos I downloaded came out fine).
There were a couple of videos where the audio and video had a syncing problem but that was due to the quality of the video and if the video had been edited in some way.
I bought AVS media tools which included the video converter so the program is mine to use.
Download using real player then convert using a video converter program - AVS converter can convert most video formats into other formats - then use nero or shrink to compile the DVD files (if you convert into DVD), then burn to a disk.
thanks so much for all your help!
Thanks lot!! your a life saver!!! the instructions work. though i was kinda impatient and didn’t wait for the full video to load
so im trying again like u suggested by waiting after u press finish
re: no audio:
set the bitrate to 128 kbps
I have successfully used this to download Youtube videos and convert them to WMV, is it possible to convert them to a format i can watch on my mobile phone, i have a Nokia N95, i transferred the wmv file to my memory card but the phone does not seem to recognise the file - any help would be appreciated
Thanks
does anyome know and can tell me how to convert a .wmv into a .mkv thx very much
After completing conversion, the new video only plays audio. No picture.
–FOR EVERYONE WHO ONLY GETS A FEW SECONDS OF WMV FILE–
I was trying to convert and 19 minute flv file to a 19 minute wmv file but, as many others have experienced, only got a few seconds of wmv file.
Why?
When you are waiting for the “streaming/transcoding wizard” to do it’s thing (after clicking finish), that process is saved in the playlist, so at any time you can “play” it again and the process will be repeated. After it is finished it will just sit there, stopped. The problem is, many of you are pressing “play” after it has stopped and starting the process again, thinking that you are now playing the wmv file. When no video shows up you realise and open the wmv file from where you saved it. This stops the currently playing “streaming/transcoding wizard” only a few seconds after you started it. It then overwrites the old wmv file it created earlier and replaces it with the new wmv which, because the “streaming/transcoding wizard” only went for a few seconds, is very short.
SOLUTION
When the “streaming/transcoding wizard” has finished doing it’s thing, close down the VLC media player without touching anything else. Now open it again and load your wmv file. The file will now be complete!
Hope this helps, it did for me!
Did a little research on why some of these flv’s would transcode OK and why some would not.
Apparently, VLC is able to do both sound and video from files encoded using the Sorenson codec (based on Flash 6). However if the file is encoded with On2 VP6 encoding (based on Flash 8 ), it will bomb, and you will get only audio, as we’ve all discovered. Leaving out an audio codec will yield the video only, as again we’ve all discovered. However, the files can be checked to see if they can be successfully transcoded into WMVs.
In Ubuntu Linux, the encoding can be checked by right-clicking the file in question and clicking Properties; there’s an audio-video tab in there and it will tell you which codecs have been used.
In Windows, download Gspot codec information appliance and check the file using it.
So far, I have been able to encode files that use the Sorenson codec successfully into working WMVs using VLC, though I get two different aberrations sometimes. Often, a few seconds of the video will vanish, or I get the green screen at the beginning.
I do not have solutions for getting rid of these, as I’m still a bit new to the video world, nor do I have an answer for the unencodeable codec On2 VP6. If I find some, I’ll be sure to post again. But at least you don’t have to guess which files will work now.
Oh, and be careful when downloading decoders. I downloaded a freeware decoder, only to find out it wouldn’t work unless it was registered and they sent you back a key. Of course, once you’ve filled in all your personal info (I gave semi-bogus info), they’ll tell you they’re no longer accepting registration of the free product and want you to purchase the non-free one, for something like $40. That product got uninstalled ASAP.
Some further info from VLC’s website:
http://wiki.videolan.org/Fixing_.flv_to_.avi_with_Ffmpeg
I have tried this and it seems to work on those stubborn On2 VP6 coded files. It is a command line utility, which is not for everyone. Unfortunately, the video quality isn’t as good as I’d like it, but since I haven’t played around with the command line switches (it’s all in the documentation with ffmpeg) I can’t say it’s impossible to get a good video. I saved mine in 3 different formats and was unable to tell much of a difference– mpg, avi, or wmv. I also tried converting an avi file that I converted with ffmpeg to a wmv3 with VLC. Made a larger file, but could see no difference. I also didn’t see evidence of the dreaded green screen at the beginning either, but I haven’t done extensive work with this utility on various files yet, as I’m at my day job.
But– it does work and if some blocky pixelation isn’t a serious problem in your downloaded files, then ffmpeg will work. It can be run with a VBS script in Windows (shown on the above link), but be sure to know what you’re doing; I don’t, so one at a time in a command window is fine for me.
Thnaks very much for this amazing tip. Keep it up!!
thank you very much…….great work man…………keep it up……
hi,
i did what you said, but somehow my video only has sound and no picture.
i am using Vista so i don’t know if that’s the problem.
thanks anyway.
Thought i’d found the answer to easily convert my flv movie files to wmv.
I’ve followed the instructions to the letter, using wmv2, mp3, encapuslate as asf, save to folder as….
However, when get to the ‘file name’ i cannot add extension wmv. unless i also add asf. extension!
This then means it won’t play in Media Player.
Am i doing something wrong?