Windows Media Tools Components
By Rick Dickinson, Microsoft Corporation
The Windows® Media Tools component of Windows Media Technologies offers a full range of tools for creating and editing live and on-demand Advanced Streaming Format (ASF) content. The table below lists recommended tools for a variety of common authoring and editing tasks. To download Windows Media Tools or Windows Media On-Demand Producer, go to https://msdn.microsoft.com/isapi/gomscom.asp?TARGET=/windows/windowsmedia/download/default.asp. The Windows Media Tools download includes complete documentation. Once installed, open the documentation by clicking the Windows Start button, then Programs, Windows Media, Windows Media Tools Documentation. Many third-party tools (https://msdn.microsoft.com/isapi/gomscom.asp?TARGET=/windows/windowsmedia/partners/tools/default.asp) also incorporate ASF functionality to help speed the authoring process or provide enhanced features.
Task |
Recommended Tool |
Tool Features |
How to Get the Tool |
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Live Content Production |
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Convert and compress live audio and video into Advanced Streaming Format (ASF) files. |
Windows Media Encoder |
· Template-based encoding options |
Download and install Windows Media Tools). Once installed, open by clicking Start/Programs/Windows Media/Encoder. |
Convert and compress live audio and video into a live stream. |
Windows Media Encoder |
See above. |
See above |
Create live audio & video synchronized with PowerPoint® 2000 slides. |
Presentation Broadcast (part of Microsoft® PowerPoint 2000) |
· Archiving for later on-demand access |
Install Microsoft Office 2000. Click Here for more information. |
Create live audio & video synchronized with PowerPoint 97 slides. |
Windows Media Presenter |
· Archiving for later on-demand access · Clients need Windows Media Player & Web browser |
On a machine with PowerPoint 97 installed, download and install Windows Media Tools. |
On-Demand Content Production |
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Convert audio & video files to ASF format. |
Windows Media On-Demand Producer, Windows Media Encoder (see above). |
· Basic media trimming (mark in and out points) · Simple batch processing |
Download and install from the Windows Media Tools site. Once installed, open by clicking Start/Programs/Windows Media/Windows Media On-Demand Producer. |
Create slideshow-style presentations. |
Windows Media Author |
· Low-bandwidth content authoring · Basic HTML template support |
Download and install Windows Media Tools. Once installed, open by clicking Start/Programs/Windows Media/Author. |
Create ASF files directly from Adobe Premiere. |
Windows Media Plug-in for Adobe Premiere |
· Easy ASF file creation |
On a machine with Adobe Premiere installed, download and install Windows Media Tools. Tool will appear as a "Save to ASF" option in Adobe Premiere. |
Create live or on-demand audio & video synchronized with PowerPoint 2000 slides. |
Presentation Broadcast (part of PowerPoint 2000) |
See entry under Live Content Production. |
See entry under Live Content Production. |
Convert PowerPoint 97 presentations into ASF. |
Windows Media Presenter |
See entry under Live Content Production. |
See entry under Live Content Production. |
Convert MOV and AVI files to ASF. |
Windows Media VidToASF |
· MS-DOS interface · Simple batch processing |
Download and install Windows Media Tools. Once installed, invoke VidToASF at an MS-DOS command line prompt. See the Windows Media Tools Documentation for more information. |
Convert WAV and mp3 files to ASF. |
Windows Media WavtoASF |
· MS-DOS command-line tool · Simple batch processing |
Download and install Windows Media Tools. Once installed, invoke WavToASF at an MS-DOS command line prompt. See the Windows Media Tools Documentation for more information. |
Post-Production Editing of ASF & ASX Files |
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Edit existing ASF files. |
Windows Media Indexer |
· Adds indexing to video files (Scroll/Fast-forward/ |
Download and install Windows Media Tools. Once installed, open by clicking Start/Programs/Windows Media/Indexer. |
Delete parts of ASF files. |
Windows Media ASFChop |
· MS-DOS command-line tool |
Download and install Windows Media Tools. Once installed, invoke ASFChop at an MS-DOS command line prompt. See the Windows Media Tools Documentation for more information. |
Verify syntax of manually-created ASX files. |
Windows Media ASX3Test |
· MS-DOS command-line tool |
Download and install Windows Media Tools. Once installed, invoke ASX3Test at an MS-DOS command line prompt. See the Windows Media Tools Documentation for more information. |
Detect and fix problems commonly found in ASF version 1.0 files. |
Windows Media ASFCheck |
· MS-DOS command-line tool |
Download and install Windows Media Tools. Once installed, invoke ASFCheck at an MS-DOS command line prompt. See the Windows Media Tools Documentation for more information. |