How to Deal with the QuickTime WMV Issue?

Playing WMV in QuickTime isn’t reliable enough and you can anytime get "The document *filename.wmv could not be opened" error message.

This happens because WMV is a Microsoft proprietary codec and even its name indicates that - Windows Media Video. And since QuickTime is a Mac proprietary media player, you get compatibility issues when trying to bring QuickTime WMV together. Microsoft also stopped development for macOS development of Windows Media Player in 2006. However, you don’t have to worry since there are several solutions available and we’ve gathered the best of them in this article.

Users situation:

Have created a movie in Windows movie maker on a pc but have to be able to play it on a Mac. I was told to save in Quicktime however Quicktime says it doesn't recognise .wmv files. Any easy solutions? — Apple Support Community

1. Elmedia Player - The best solution to open WMV on Mac

Unlike QuickTime, Elmedia Player is perfectly suited to watching .wmv on Mac. It plays MP4, FLV, AVI, MKV, MOV and more, so you can view and listen to other formats that are hard to use on macOS. With audio and subtitle sync, the ability to add external tracks and save playlists, it’s our Mac WMV player of choice.

Elmedia PRO adds more functionality, like easy streaming over DLNA, AirPlay 2 and Chromecast, video tuning and audio equalization. $19.99 is well worth it for this significant upgrade.

Go Around the Quicktime Player WMV Issue by Converting It

If you don’t want to get used to a third-party player to watch .wmv files on Mac, the other solution is to change the format into one that can be opened by QuickTime. You can convert WMV to MOV directly in the player:

1. Launch QuickTime Player and open the WMV file you want to convert.
2. Go to the "File" menu and select "Export".
3. Select "Movie to MOV" as the export format.
4. Choose a location to save the converted MOV file and click "Save".

Convert WMV Files Online

If you’re not comfortable with installing another app to solve the QuickTime player can’t open WMV issue, you can convert the files 100% online. Our recommended online solution is Online Video Converter. Here are the steps to rapidly convert:

The steps are relatively similar to software tools and are also really simple:

1. Access the website and click "Open" to upload the WMV file you want to convert
2. In the output format box, select "Apple" and you’ll be able to select the exact device to create a perfectly-compatible video.
3. Click "Convert".
4. Once the conversion is over, download the final file
5. Click on the downloaded file and it will run in QuickTime Player