The VideoLAN Forums

I am receiving an increasing number of WMV3 files form PC friends. VLC gives me the following message:

main: no suitable decoder module for fourcc `WMV3'.
VLC probably does not support this sound or video format.

Is this supposed to be?
Thanks,

Is it very hard to understand that message?

Is it very hard to understand that message?

One can always have "hope" that there is some uncertainty in the word "probably".

However, there is no room for uncertainty in your snippet, nor an answer.

I try to stay nice and helpful as much as I can, but when you get asked the same question a quadrillion times you sometimes have to let out some pressure. Sorry about that. As for your question, vlc does not support it, and there is no work in progress nor any plan to. This is because microsoft never released any specs for us to work on, and reverse-engineering a codec is _very_ hard work. As of yet you can only play back these streams/files with wmp or other players that hack into their dlls

Perhaps we should change it to:

main: no suitable decoder module for fourcc `WMV3'.
VLC, with 99.9% certainty, does not support this audio or video format

I have also been looking for information on WMV3 files. I understand how frustrating it may be answering the same question over and over again.

Though I have the will to spend time working on solutions to problems like this, I'm sorry to say that I don't have the technical skills to do so. The best I can do is to offer a way to answer the question.

Might I suggest some information be included in a FAQ or the documentation to the effect that certain CODECS are proprietary and certain types of files can not easily be played? The features page for VLC does show that WMV3 is not supported but it's not clear as to why.

I don't know how far you would want to go in saying that Microsoft attempts to cloak their technology in order to prevent others from accessing files in certain formats but if that could be said in a "politically correct" way it might be helpful.

I apologize for asking the question.

As a user of strictly MacIntosh, I have tried to distance myself from microsoft as much as possible, and thus do not come across this issue very often except when trying to open MS generated documents. I make an effort to remain transparent, using software that may for the most part operate on both platforms. However, occassionally I ask ignorant questions, such as this one.

I have deleted the file.

Well, at least I did a search before asking a question that would be a "bother" to anyone. Heaven forbid a customer would want to make sure she hadn't gotten a corrupted version of the VLC software, or perhaps couldn't find an update that would fix it, or, heck, even that there was some workaround that would do in a pinch.

Please forgive me for not being completely aware of all technical issues involved in such an enterprise.

and please forgive us for being rude and a pain in the ass some times.

Just starting using VLC. Nice product but just received this error myself.

Media Player opens the files, so for anything WMV3 I'll use that, for everything else VLC gets the vote

Thanks to everyone working on the product.

ah, isn't microsoft wonderful? even with the latest version of windows media player installed on mac os x, wmv3 files still won't play. they keep trying to make their own formats, retards then use the worthless things because they just think microsoft is great, and then those of us who haven't sold our souls to the evil empire can't play them. when will everyone get the clue and stop using microsoft products and formats?

ah, isn't microsoft wonderful? even with the latest version of windows media player installed on mac os x, wmv3 files still won't play. they keep trying to make their own formats, retards then use the worthless things because they just think microsoft is great, and then those of us who haven't sold our souls to the evil empire can't play them. when will everyone get the clue and stop using microsoft products and formats?

anyway WMV3 is sh1t.

did i not just read on VLC home page (News section) that the next release will support WMV3?

That was an April Fool's Day joke. Take a look at the Web links (URLs) in the "announcement".

too good to be true ... '-(

Just Use MS Media Player 9 for Mac to view WMV3 files. Works fairly well.

Mike: that only works for .asf streams i was told, not for avi.

Mike: that only works for .asf streams i was told, not for avi.

DJ, WMV plays just fine.

Perhaps the problem comes from current WMP9 for Mac supporting .WMV and .ASF, but not .AVI -- it's the file container format that isn't supported on the Mac. So, if you get a WMV3 video CODEC stream in a .AVI container, you're SOL.

(Apparently the pre-OSX version of WMP for Mac did/does support .AVI)

Gotta love "standards", Microsoft-style

.wmv == .asf
.wma == .asf

It is all one and the same container format. just different fileextensions to show what codec is used in the container.

Guys:
This works to some extent in mplayer. Perhaps it uses the W32 codecs?
I have it playing, but I dont know if audio works as I dont know if there is meant to be any...if you get me.

mytheatre plays wmv downloaded from microsoft site beautifully with 5.1 sound.

vlc 0.82 plays 720p wmv with incorrect aspect ratio