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Windows Media Player
 
 
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Windows Media Player (abbreviated WMP) is a digital
Digital media

Digital media usually refers to electronic media that work on digital codes. Today, computing is primarily based on the binary numeral system....
 media player and media library application developed by Microsoft
Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is a multinational corporation computer technology corporation that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of computer software products for computing devices....
 that is used for playing audio, video
Video

Video is the technology of electronics Videography, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing Scene in motion....
 and viewing image
Image

An image is an artifact, usually two-dimensional , that has a similar appearance to some subject —usually a physical object or a person....
s on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows is a series of software operating systems and graphical user interfaces produced by Microsoft. Microsoft first introduced an operating environment named Windows in November 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces ....
 operating system
Operating system

An operating system is an interface between hardware and applications; it is responsible for the management and coordination of activities and the sharing of the limited resources of the computer....
, as well as on Pocket PC
Pocket PC

A Pocket PC, abbreviated P/PC or PPC, is a hardware specification for a handheld-sized computer that runs the Microsoft Windows Mobile operating system....
 and Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile

Windows Mobile is a compact operating system combined with a suite of basic applications for mobile devices based on the Microsoft Windows API application programming interface....
-based devices. Editions of Windows Media Player were also released for Mac OS
Mac OS

Mac OS is the trademarked name for a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer systems....
, Mac OS X
Mac OS X

Mac OS X is a line of computer operating systems developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc., and since 2002 has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems....
 and Solaris but development of these has since been discontinued.

In addition to being a media player, Windows Media Player includes the ability to rip
Ripping

Ripping is the process of copying audio or video content to a hard disk, typically from removable media or streaming media. Originally, the term is an acronym for "raster image processor" and referred specifically to ....
 music from and copy music to compact disc
Compact Disc

A Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store Data , originally developed for storing digital audio. The CD, available on the market since October 1982, remains the standard physical medium for sale of commercial Sound recording and reproduction to the present day....
s, build Audio CD
Red Book (audio CD standard)

Red Book is the standardization for audio Compact Disc . It is named after one of a set of Rainbow Books that contain the Specification for all CD and CD-ROM formats....
s in recordable discs
CD-R

A CD-R is a variation of the Compact Disc invented by Philips and Sony. CD-R is a Write Once Read Many optical medium, though the whole disk does not have to be entirely written in the same session....
 and synchronize content with a digital audio player
Digital audio player

A digital audio player, more commonly referred to as an MP3 player, is a consumer electronics device that stores, organizes and plays audio file formats....
 (MP3
MP3

MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a digital audio Encoder format using a form of lossy data compression. It is a common audio format for consumer audio storage, as well as a de facto standard encoding for the transfer and playback of music on digital audio players....
 player) or other mobile devices, and enables users to purchase or rent music from a number of online music store
Online music store

An online music store is an online business which sells audio files, usually music, on a per-song and/or subscription basis. The Internet's first free high fidelity online music archive of downloadable songs was the Internet Underground Music Archive....
s.

Windows Media Player replaced an earlier piece of software called Media Player, adding features beyond simple video or audio playback.

The current version, Windows Media Player 11
Windows Media Player 11

Windows Media Player 11 is the most recent version of Windows Media Player as of November 2008. It is available for Windows XP and included in Windows Vista....
, was released on October 30, 2006.






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Encyclopedia


Windows Media Player (abbreviated WMP) is a digital
Digital media

Digital media usually refers to electronic media that work on digital codes. Today, computing is primarily based on the binary numeral system....
 media player and media library application developed by Microsoft
Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is a multinational corporation computer technology corporation that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of computer software products for computing devices....
 that is used for playing audio, video
Video

Video is the technology of electronics Videography, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing Scene in motion....
 and viewing image
Image

An image is an artifact, usually two-dimensional , that has a similar appearance to some subject —usually a physical object or a person....
s on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows is a series of software operating systems and graphical user interfaces produced by Microsoft. Microsoft first introduced an operating environment named Windows in November 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces ....
 operating system
Operating system

An operating system is an interface between hardware and applications; it is responsible for the management and coordination of activities and the sharing of the limited resources of the computer....
, as well as on Pocket PC
Pocket PC

A Pocket PC, abbreviated P/PC or PPC, is a hardware specification for a handheld-sized computer that runs the Microsoft Windows Mobile operating system....
 and Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile

Windows Mobile is a compact operating system combined with a suite of basic applications for mobile devices based on the Microsoft Windows API application programming interface....
-based devices. Editions of Windows Media Player were also released for Mac OS
Mac OS

Mac OS is the trademarked name for a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer systems....
, Mac OS X
Mac OS X

Mac OS X is a line of computer operating systems developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc., and since 2002 has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems....
 and Solaris but development of these has since been discontinued.

In addition to being a media player, Windows Media Player includes the ability to rip
Ripping

Ripping is the process of copying audio or video content to a hard disk, typically from removable media or streaming media. Originally, the term is an acronym for "raster image processor" and referred specifically to ....
 music from and copy music to compact disc
Compact Disc

A Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store Data , originally developed for storing digital audio. The CD, available on the market since October 1982, remains the standard physical medium for sale of commercial Sound recording and reproduction to the present day....
s, build Audio CD
Red Book (audio CD standard)

Red Book is the standardization for audio Compact Disc . It is named after one of a set of Rainbow Books that contain the Specification for all CD and CD-ROM formats....
s in recordable discs
CD-R

A CD-R is a variation of the Compact Disc invented by Philips and Sony. CD-R is a Write Once Read Many optical medium, though the whole disk does not have to be entirely written in the same session....
 and synchronize content with a digital audio player
Digital audio player

A digital audio player, more commonly referred to as an MP3 player, is a consumer electronics device that stores, organizes and plays audio file formats....
 (MP3
MP3

MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a digital audio Encoder format using a form of lossy data compression. It is a common audio format for consumer audio storage, as well as a de facto standard encoding for the transfer and playback of music on digital audio players....
 player) or other mobile devices, and enables users to purchase or rent music from a number of online music store
Online music store

An online music store is an online business which sells audio files, usually music, on a per-song and/or subscription basis. The Internet's first free high fidelity online music archive of downloadable songs was the Internet Underground Music Archive....
s.

Windows Media Player replaced an earlier piece of software called Media Player, adding features beyond simple video or audio playback.

The current version, Windows Media Player 11
Windows Media Player 11

Windows Media Player 11 is the most recent version of Windows Media Player as of November 2008. It is available for Windows XP and included in Windows Vista....
, was released on October 30, 2006. Its successor, Windows Media Player 12
Windows Media Player 12

Windows Media Player 12 is an upcoming release of Windows Media Player. It was first introduced in October 2008 at the 2008 Professional Developers Conference as part of Windows 7....
, is under development; an initial test version was demonstrated in October 2008 as part of Windows 7.

The default file formats are Windows Media Video
Windows Media Video

Windows Media Video is a Data compression video file format for several Proprietary software codecs developed by Microsoft. The original codec, known as WMV, was originally designed for Internet streaming applications, as a competitor to RealVideo....
 (WMV), Windows Media Audio
Windows Media Audio

Windows Media Audio is an audio data compression technology developed by Microsoft. The name can be used to refer to its audio file format or its audio codecs....
 (WMA), and Advanced Systems Format
Advanced Systems Format

Advanced Systems Format is Microsoft's Proprietary software digital audio/digital video container format , especially meant for streaming media....
 (ASF), and supports its own XML based playlist format called Windows Playlist (WPL
WPL

WPL is a computer file format that stores multimedia playlists. It is a proprietary file format used in Microsoft Windows Media Player versions 9?11....
). The player is also able to utilize a digital rights management
Digital rights management

Digital rights management refers to access control technologies used by publishers, copyright holders, and hardware manufacturers to limit usage of digital media or devices....
 service in the form of Windows Media DRM
Windows Media DRM

Windows Media DRM is a Digital Rights Management service for the Windows Media platform. It is designed to provide secure delivery of audio and/or video content over an IP network to a PC or other playback device in such a way that the distributor can control how that content is used....
.

History

Windows Media Player 10
Windows has had a media player since the year 1991, when Windows 3.0
Windows 3.0

Windows 3.0 is the third major release of Microsoft Microsoft Windows, and was released on 22 May 1990. It became the first widely successful version of Windows and a powerful rival to Macintosh and the Commodore Amiga on the GUI front....
 with MultiMedia Extensions was released. The original Media Player
Media player

Media player is a term typically used to describe computer software for playing back multimedia computer files. Most software media players support an array of media formats, including both digital audio and digital video files....
 application used MCI
Media Control Interface

The Media Control Interface, MCI in short, is an aging high-level API developed by Microsoft and IBM for controlling multimedia peripherals connected to a Microsoft Windows or OS/2 computer, such as CD-ROM players and audio controllers....
 to handle media files. In 1996 Microsoft released ActiveMovie
ActiveMovie

ActiveMovie is a streaming media technology now known as DirectShow, developed by Microsoft to replace Video for Windows. ActiveMovie allows users to view media streams, whether distributed via the Internet, an intranet and CD-ROMs....
, a new way of dealing with media files and streaming media (which the original Media Player couldn't handle). A wrapper was provided for users in the form of the ActiveMovie Control, allowing users to play media files on their computer.

ActiveMovie morphed into DirectShow
DirectShow

DirectShow , codename Quartz, is a multimedia framework and application programming interface produced by Microsoft for software developers to perform various operations with media files or streams....
 and a new Media Player was created, known internally as Media Player 2. This player was an evolution from the ActiveMovie Control, providing a richer and more intuitive user interface. Media Player 2, like its predecessor, was also a wrapper—this time around DirectShow. Version 5.2 was the first version of this new Media Player, with version 6.x becoming widespread.

Version 6.4 was the final version of Media Player 2, by now known as Windows Media Player. Version 6.4 was included with Windows Me, Windows 2000 and Windows XP, but was dropped in Windows Vista.

There was another large revamp in Windows Media Player version 7, with the release of Windows Me
Windows Me

Windows Millennium Edition, or Windows Me , is a hybrid 16-bit/32-bit graphical operating system released on 14 September 2000 by Microsoft....
, with a new user interface, visualizations and increased functionality. WMP7 came with the WMA
Windows Media Audio

Windows Media Audio is an audio data compression technology developed by Microsoft. The name can be used to refer to its audio file format or its audio codecs....
 and WMV
Windows Media Video

Windows Media Video is a Data compression video file format for several Proprietary software codecs developed by Microsoft. The original codec, known as WMV, was originally designed for Internet streaming applications, as a competitor to RealVideo....
 codecs.

Features

  • Allows the user to connect, share and sync data with portable handheld devices and game consoles. Media can be optionally transcoded to a format better suited for the target device, automatically, when synchronizing.
  • Playback of audio, video and pictures, along with fast forward, reverse, seek and time compression and dilation.
  • Supports local playback, streaming playback and progressive downloads.
  • Support for any media codec and container format using specific DirectShow
    DirectShow

    DirectShow , codename Quartz, is a multimedia framework and application programming interface produced by Microsoft for software developers to perform various operations with media files or streams....
     filters.
  • Full media management, via the integrated media library, which offers cataloguing and searching of media. Media can be arranged according to album, artist, genre, date et al.
  • Video Smoothing which upscales frame-rate by interpolating added frames, in effect giving a smoother playback on low-framerate videos.
  • Includes a 10-band graphic equalizer and SRS WOW
    SRS Labs

    SRS Labs, Inc. , formed in 1993 from the audio division of the Hughes Aircraft Company, is dedicated to developing and licensing audio enhancement technologies....
     audio post-processing system. Windows Media Player can also have attached plug-ins which process
    Digital signal processing

    Digital signal processing is concerned with the representation of the signal s by a sequence of numbers or symbols and the processing of these signals....
     the output audio or video data.
  • Features a taskbar-mounted Mini mode in which the most common media control buttons are presented as a toolbar on the Windows taskbar
    Taskbar

    In computing, the taskbar is a term for an application desktop bar which is used to launch and monitor applications. Microsoft incorporated a taskbar in Windows 95 and it has been a defining aspect of Microsoft Windows's graphical user interface ever since....
    . Flyout windows can display media information, the active visualization or the video being played back.
  • Can use video overlays
    Hardware overlay

    In computing, hardware overlay, a type of video overlay, provides a method of rendering an image to a display screen with a dedicated memory buffer inside computer video hardware....
     or VMR surfaces, if the video card supports them. In Windows XP, it uses VMR7 by default, but can also be made to use the more advanced YUV mixing mode by enabling the "Use high quality mode" option in Advanced Performance settings. This turns on deinterlacing, scaling and improved color accuracy.
  • Version 11 introduced improved support for DirectX accelerated decoding of WMV video (DXVA decoding)
  • Features integrated CD
    Compact Disc

    A Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store Data , originally developed for storing digital audio. The CD, available on the market since October 1982, remains the standard physical medium for sale of commercial Sound recording and reproduction to the present day....
    -burning support for audio as well as data CDs. Data CDs can have any of the media formats supported by the player. While burning Data CDs, the media can, optionally, be transcoded into WMA
    Windows Media Audio

    Windows Media Audio is an audio data compression technology developed by Microsoft. The name can be used to refer to its audio file format or its audio codecs....
     format.
  • Audio CDs
    Compact Disc

    A Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store Data , originally developed for storing digital audio. The CD, available on the market since October 1982, remains the standard physical medium for sale of commercial Sound recording and reproduction to the present day....
     can be ripped as WMA
    Windows Media Audio

    Windows Media Audio is an audio data compression technology developed by Microsoft. The name can be used to refer to its audio file format or its audio codecs....
     or WMA 10 Pro at 48, 64, 96, 128, 160 and 192 kbit/s, WMA lossless
    Windows Media Audio 9 Lossless

    Windows Media Audio 9 Lossless is a Audio data compression audio codec by Microsoft, released in early 2003.It compresses an audio CD to a range of 206 to 411MB, at bit rates of 470 to 940 kbit/s....
     (470 to 940 kbit/s), WMA variable bitrate
    Variable bitrate

    Variable bitrate is a term used in telecommunications and computing that relates to the bitrate used in sound or video encoding. As opposed to constant bitrate , VBR files vary the amount of output data per time segment....
     (from 40-75 kbit/s up to 240-355 kbit/s), MP3
    MP3

    MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a digital audio Encoder format using a form of lossy data compression. It is a common audio format for consumer audio storage, as well as a de facto standard encoding for the transfer and playback of music on digital audio players....
     at 128, 192, 256 and 320 kbit/s, or uncompressed WAV
    WAV

    WAV , short for Waveform audio format, is a Microsoft and International Business Machines audio file format standard for storing an audio bitstream on personal computer....
    . 24 bit high-resolution CDs
    Compact Disc

    A Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store Data , originally developed for storing digital audio. The CD, available on the market since October 1982, remains the standard physical medium for sale of commercial Sound recording and reproduction to the present day....
     are also supported, if capable audio hardware is present.
  • Information on CDs
    Compact Disc

    A Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store Data , originally developed for storing digital audio. The CD, available on the market since October 1982, remains the standard physical medium for sale of commercial Sound recording and reproduction to the present day....
     such as album name, artist and track listings can optionally be automatically downloaded from the Microsoft
    Microsoft

    Microsoft Corporation is a multinational corporation computer technology corporation that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of computer software products for computing devices....
     Windows Media Database when the CD
    Compact Disc

    A Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store Data , originally developed for storing digital audio. The CD, available on the market since October 1982, remains the standard physical medium for sale of commercial Sound recording and reproduction to the present day....
     is inserted.
  • Includes intrinsic support for Windows Media
    Windows Media

    Windows Media is a multimedia framework for media clip creation and distribution for Microsoft Windows. It consists of a software development kit with several application programming interfaces and a number of prebuilt technologies, and is the replacement of NetShow technologies....
     codecs which support multichannel audio at up to 24-bit 192 kHz resolution.
  • Can play files in WMA, WAV or MP3 media formats. However, it will not play MP3 files that contain compressed ID3
    ID3

    ID3 is a metadata container most often used in conjunction with the MP3 audio file format. It allows information such as the title, artist, album, track number, or other information about the file to be stored in the file itself....
     headers ("tags"); trying to do so results in a "The input media file is invalid" error message.
  • Supports subtitles and closed-captioning, if present in the media.
  • Features "Synchronized Lyrics", by which different lines of lyrics can be time-stamped, so that they display only at those times.
  • Windows Explorer
    Windows Explorer

    Windows Explorer is a file manager application that is included with releases of the Microsoft Windows operating system from Windows 95 onwards....
     shell integration to add files and playlist to the Now Playing and other playlists can be controlled from the Windows Explorer shell itself, via right-click menu.
  • Provides an embeddedable ActiveX
    ActiveX

    ActiveX is a component Object Model developed by Microsoft for Microsoft Windows. By using the Component Object Model runtime, developers can create Component-based software engineering that perform a particular function or a set of functions....
     control for Internet Explorer
    Internet Explorer

    Windows Internet Explorer , commonly abbreviated to IE, is a series of graphical user interface web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems starting in 1995....
     so that developers can play Windows Media
    Windows Media

    Windows Media is a multimedia framework for media clip creation and distribution for Microsoft Windows. It consists of a software development kit with several application programming interfaces and a number of prebuilt technologies, and is the replacement of NetShow technologies....
     on web pages.
  • A fully featured tag editor was featured in versions 8-11 of WMP, called the Advanced Tag Editor. However, the feature was not present in the latest preview version of Windows Media Player 12.


Other versions

Microsoft has also released versions of Windows Media Player for other platforms including Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile

Windows Mobile is a compact operating system combined with a suite of basic applications for mobile devices based on the Microsoft Windows API application programming interface....
, Mac OS
Mac OS

Mac OS is the trademarked name for a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer systems....
, Mac OS X
Mac OS X

Mac OS X is a line of computer operating systems developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc., and since 2002 has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems....
, Palm-size PC
Palm-size PC

The Palm-Size PC was Microsoft's first attempt at a computer conforming to an 'in your hand' profile .These devices demonstrated many firsts for this form factor, including comparatively high-resolution Liquid crystal displays with later versions even having color displays and a standardized software environment that ran on licensed OEM har...
, Handheld PC
Handheld PC

A Handheld PC, or H/PC for short, is a term for a computer built around a form factor which is smaller than any standard laptop computer. It is sometimes referred to as a Palmtop....
, and Solaris. Of these, only the Windows Mobile edition continues to be actively developed and supported by Microsoft. Version 1 of the Zune
Zune

Zune is the product-line brand name for the Zune portable media players, Zune software, and Zune Marketplace services sold by Microsoft, which provide online music, video, and podcast downloads....
 software was also based on Windows Media Player, later versions are not.

Windows Mobile

Windows Media Player for Pocket PC was first announced on January 6, 2000, and has been revised on a schedule roughly similar to that of the Windows version. Currently known as "Media Player 10 Mobile", this edition (released in October 2004) closely resembles the capabilities of the Windows version of WMP 10, including playlist capabilities, a media library, album art, WMA Lossless playback, support for DRM-protected media, video playback at 640x480 with stereo sound, and the same Energy Blue
Energy Blue

Royale is a GUI art concept produced by Microsoft and introduced in 2004 directed for Windows Media Center desktops and Windows XP Tablet PC Edition Tablet PCs....
 interface aesthetics also seen in recent versions of Windows XP Media Center Edition. It also supports synchronization with the desktop version of WMP 10, and additionally supports synchronizing and transcoding of recorded television shows from Media Center. Media Player 10 Mobile is not available as a download from Microsoft; distribution is done solely through OEM partners, and is typically included on devices based on Windows Mobile.

Windows Mobile 6.0 includes a copy of Windows Media Player 10 Mobile but with a similar (but not quite identical) theme as Windows Media Player 11.

Mac OS X

Am Wmp for Mac
Version 9 was the final version of Windows Media Player to be released for Mac OS X
Mac OS X

Mac OS X is a line of computer operating systems developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc., and since 2002 has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems....
 before development was cancelled by Microsoft. WMP for Mac OS X received widespread criticism from Mac users due to poor performance and features. Developed by the Windows Media team at Microsoft instead of the Macintosh Business Unit
Macintosh Business Unit

Macintosh Business Unit is an operating unit of Microsoft that produces software for the Apple Inc. Macintosh platform. Formed on January 7 1997, it is today situated within Microsoft's Specialized Devices and Applications Group inside the Entertainment and Devices Division....
 and released in 2003, on release the application lacked many basic features that were found in other media players such as Apple's iTunes
ITunes

iTunes is a Proprietary software digital media media player application, used for playing and organizing digital music and video files. The program is also an interface to manage the contents on Apple's popular iPod digital media players as well as the iPhone....
 and QuickTime
QuickTime

QuickTime is a multimedia framework developed by Apple Inc., capable of handling various formats of digital video, media clips, sound, text, animation, music, and QuickTime VRs....
. It also lacked support for many media formats that version 9 of the Windows counterpart supported on release 10 months earlier.

The Mac version supported only Windows Media
Windows Media

Windows Media is a multimedia framework for media clip creation and distribution for Microsoft Windows. It consists of a software development kit with several application programming interfaces and a number of prebuilt technologies, and is the replacement of NetShow technologies....
 encoded media (up to version 9) enclosed in the ASF
Advanced Systems Format

Advanced Systems Format is Microsoft's Proprietary software digital audio/digital video container format , especially meant for streaming media....
 format, lacking support for all other formats such as MP4, MPEG
Moving Picture Experts Group

Moving Picture Experts Group was formed by the International Organization for Standardization to set standards for audio compression and video compression and transmission....
, and Microsoft's own AVI
Avi

Avi may refer to:* Avi , the pen name of children's author Edward Irving WortisAVI may refer to:* Audio Video Interleave, a multimedia container format...
 format. On the user interface front, it did not prevent screensaver
Screensaver

A screensaver is a type of computer program initially designed to prevent "Phosphor burn-in" on Cathode ray tube and plasma computer monitors by blanking the screen or filling it with moving images or patterns when the computer is not in use....
s from running during playback, it did not support file drag-and-drop, nor did it support playlists. While Windows Media Player 9 had added support for some files that use the WMV9
Windows Media Video

Windows Media Video is a Data compression video file format for several Proprietary software codecs developed by Microsoft. The original codec, known as WMV, was originally designed for Internet streaming applications, as a competitor to RealVideo....
 codec (also known as the WMV3 codec by the FourCC
FourCC

A FourCC is a sequence of four bytes used to uniquely identify data formats. The concept originated in the OSType scheme used in the Mac OS and was adopted for the Amiga/Electronic Arts Interchange File Format and derivatives....
), in other aspects it was seen as having degraded in features from previous versions.

On January 12, 2006 Microsoft announced it had ceased development of Windows Media Player for Mac. Microsoft now distributes a third-party plugin
Plugin

In computing, a plug-in consists of a computer program that interacts with a host application software to provide a certain, usually very specific, function "on demand"....
 called WMV Player (produced and maintained by Flip4Mac
Flip4Mac

Flip4Mac is a trademarked brand name for Telestream's proprietary digital media tools for the Macintosh. It is particularly known for being the only QuickTime component for Mac OS X that supports Windows Media Video, although there is non-QuickTime OS X software that supports WMV....
) which allows some forms of Windows Media
Windows Media

Windows Media is a multimedia framework for media clip creation and distribution for Microsoft Windows. It consists of a software development kit with several application programming interfaces and a number of prebuilt technologies, and is the replacement of NetShow technologies....
 to be played within Apple's
Apple Computer

Apple Inc., formerly Apple Computer Inc., is an United States multinational corporation which designs and manufactures consumer electronics and software products....
 QuickTime
QuickTime

QuickTime is a multimedia framework developed by Apple Inc., capable of handling various formats of digital video, media clips, sound, text, animation, music, and QuickTime VRs....
 player and other QuickTime-aware applications. Mac users can also use the free software
Free software

Free Software or software libre is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with minimal restrictions only to ensure that further recipients can also do these things and to prevent consumer-facing hardware...
 media player VLC
VLC media player

VLC media player is an open source, free software media player written by the VideoLAN project.VLC is a portable multimedia player, encoder, and streamer supporting many audio and video codecs and file formats as well as DVDs, Video CD, and various streaming media Communications protocol....
, which is also able to play most Windows Media files.

Release history

Version Original release Latest build Operating system compatibility Codename
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows is a series of software operating systems and graphical user interfaces produced by Microsoft. Microsoft first introduced an operating environment named Windows in November 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces ....
Windows Media Player 12
Windows Media Player 12

Windows Media Player 12 is an upcoming release of Windows Media Player. It was first introduced in October 2008 at the 2008 Professional Developers Conference as part of Windows 7....
In Development 12.0.7032 Windows 7 unknown
Windows Media Player 11
Windows Media Player 11

Windows Media Player 11 is the most recent version of Windows Media Player as of November 2008. It is available for Windows XP and included in Windows Vista....
October 30, 2006 11.0.6001 Windows Server 2008
Windows Vista
Windows Vista

Windows Vista is one member in a family of operating systems developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business Desktop computer, laptops, Tablet PCs, and media center PCs....

Windows XP SP2 or later 		Polaris (Windows XP)
Aurora (Windows Vista)
Windows Media Player 10 October 12, 2004 10.00.00.4058 Windows Server 2003
Windows Server 2003

Windows Server 2003 is a Server operating system produced by Microsoft. Introduced on 24 April 2003 as the successor to Windows 2000 Server, it is considered by Microsoft to be the cornerstone of its Windows Server System line of business server products....
 SP2
Windows XP
Windows XP

Windows XP is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptop, and media centers....
 		 Crescent
Windows Media Player 9 Series January 27, 2003 9.00.00.4503
(Windows XP build) 		Windows XP
Windows XP

Windows XP is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptop, and media centers....

Windows 2000
Windows 2000

Windows 2000 is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on business desktops, Laptop, and Server . Released on 17 February, 2000, it was the successor to Windows NT 4.0, and is the final release of Microsoft Windows to display the "Windows NT" designation....

Windows Me
Windows Me

Windows Millennium Edition, or Windows Me , is a hybrid 16-bit/32-bit graphical operating system released on 14 September 2000 by Microsoft....

Windows 98 SE 		Corona
Windows Media Player for Windows XP
(Version 8) 		October 25, 2001 Windows XP
Windows XP

Windows XP is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptop, and media centers....
 		 
Windows Media Player 7.1 May 16, 2001 (98
Windows 98

Windows 98 is a graphical operating system released on 25 June 1998 by Microsoft and the successor to Windows 95. Like its predecessor, it is a hybrid 16-bit application/32-bit application monolithic product based on MS-DOS....
, Me
Windows Me

Windows Millennium Edition, or Windows Me , is a hybrid 16-bit/32-bit graphical operating system released on 14 September 2000 by Microsoft....
 and 2000
Windows 2000

Windows 2000 is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on business desktops, Laptop, and Server . Released on 17 February, 2000, it was the successor to Windows NT 4.0, and is the final release of Microsoft Windows to display the "Windows NT" designation....
) 		7.1 Windows 98
Windows 98

Windows 98 is a graphical operating system released on 25 June 1998 by Microsoft and the successor to Windows 95. Like its predecessor, it is a hybrid 16-bit application/32-bit application monolithic product based on MS-DOS....

Windows Me
Windows Me

Windows Millennium Edition, or Windows Me , is a hybrid 16-bit/32-bit graphical operating system released on 14 September 2000 by Microsoft....

Windows 2000
Windows 2000

Windows 2000 is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on business desktops, Laptop, and Server . Released on 17 February, 2000, it was the successor to Windows NT 4.0, and is the final release of Microsoft Windows to display the "Windows NT" designation....
 		 
Windows Media Player 7.0 July 17, 2000 (98
Windows 98

Windows 98 is a graphical operating system released on 25 June 1998 by Microsoft and the successor to Windows 95. Like its predecessor, it is a hybrid 16-bit application/32-bit application monolithic product based on MS-DOS....
 and 2000
Windows 2000

Windows 2000 is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on business desktops, Laptop, and Server . Released on 17 February, 2000, it was the successor to Windows NT 4.0, and is the final release of Microsoft Windows to display the "Windows NT" designation....
)
September 14, 2000 (Me
Windows Me

Windows Millennium Edition, or Windows Me , is a hybrid 16-bit/32-bit graphical operating system released on 14 September 2000 by Microsoft....
) 		7.0 Windows 98
Windows 98

Windows 98 is a graphical operating system released on 25 June 1998 by Microsoft and the successor to Windows 95. Like its predecessor, it is a hybrid 16-bit application/32-bit application monolithic product based on MS-DOS....

Windows Me
Windows Me

Windows Millennium Edition, or Windows Me , is a hybrid 16-bit/32-bit graphical operating system released on 14 September 2000 by Microsoft....

Windows 2000
Windows 2000

Windows 2000 is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on business desktops, Laptop, and Server . Released on 17 February, 2000, it was the successor to Windows NT 4.0, and is the final release of Microsoft Windows to display the "Windows NT" designation....
 		 
Windows Media Player 6.4
(mplayer2 for 2000
Windows 2000

Windows 2000 is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on business desktops, Laptop, and Server . Released on 17 February, 2000, it was the successor to Windows NT 4.0, and is the final release of Microsoft Windows to display the "Windows NT" designation....
 and XP
Windows XP

Windows XP is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptop, and media centers....
) 		November 22, 1999 6.4.09.1130 Windows 95
Windows 95

Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented graphical user interface-based operating system. It was released on August 24, 1995 by Microsoft, and was a significant progression from the company's previous Microsoft Windows products....

Windows 98
Windows 98

Windows 98 is a graphical operating system released on 25 June 1998 by Microsoft and the successor to Windows 95. Like its predecessor, it is a hybrid 16-bit application/32-bit application monolithic product based on MS-DOS....

Windows NT 4.0
Windows NT 4.0

Windows NT 4.0 is a Preemption , Graphical user interface and business-oriented operating system designed to work with either uniprocessor or Symmetric multiprocessing computers....

Windows 2000
Windows 2000

Windows 2000 is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on business desktops, Laptop, and Server . Released on 17 February, 2000, it was the successor to Windows NT 4.0, and is the final release of Microsoft Windows to display the "Windows NT" designation....

Windows XP
Windows XP

Windows XP is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptop, and media centers....

 
Windows Media Player 6.1 June 25, 1998 Windows 95
Windows 95

Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented graphical user interface-based operating system. It was released on August 24, 1995 by Microsoft, and was a significant progression from the company's previous Microsoft Windows products....
 		 
Windows CE
Windows CE

Windows CE is Microsoft's operating system for minimalistic computers and embedded systems. Windows CE is a distinctly different operating system and Kernel , rather than a trimmed-down version of desktop Windows....
/Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile

Windows Mobile is a compact operating system combined with a suite of basic applications for mobile devices based on the Microsoft Windows API application programming interface....
Windows Media Player 11 Mobile April 1, 2008 Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile

Windows Mobile is a compact operating system combined with a suite of basic applications for mobile devices based on the Microsoft Windows API application programming interface....
 6.1 		 
Windows Media Player 10.3 Mobile February 12, 2007 (6) Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile

Windows Mobile is a compact operating system combined with a suite of basic applications for mobile devices based on the Microsoft Windows API application programming interface....
 5.0
Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile

Windows Mobile is a compact operating system combined with a suite of basic applications for mobile devices based on the Microsoft Windows API application programming interface....
 6 		 
Windows Media Player 10.2 Mobile Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile

Windows Mobile is a compact operating system combined with a suite of basic applications for mobile devices based on the Microsoft Windows API application programming interface....
 5.0 		 
Windows Media Player 10.1 Mobile May 10, 2005 Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile

Windows Mobile is a compact operating system combined with a suite of basic applications for mobile devices based on the Microsoft Windows API application programming interface....
 5.0 		 
Windows Media Player 10 Mobile October 12, 2004 Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile

Windows Mobile is a compact operating system combined with a suite of basic applications for mobile devices based on the Microsoft Windows API application programming interface....
 2003 SE 		 
Windows Media Player 9.0.1 March 24, 2004 Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile

Windows Mobile is a compact operating system combined with a suite of basic applications for mobile devices based on the Microsoft Windows API application programming interface....
 2003 SE 		 
Windows Media Player 9 Series June 23, 2003 Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile

Windows Mobile is a compact operating system combined with a suite of basic applications for mobile devices based on the Microsoft Windows API application programming interface....
 2003 		Corona
Windows Media Player 8.5 October 11, 2002 Pocket PC
Windows Mobile

Windows Mobile is a compact operating system combined with a suite of basic applications for mobile devices based on the Microsoft Windows API application programming interface....
 2002 		 
Windows Media Player 8.01 July 2002 Pocket PC
Windows Mobile

Windows Mobile is a compact operating system combined with a suite of basic applications for mobile devices based on the Microsoft Windows API application programming interface....
 2002 		 
Windows Media Player 8 October 4, 2001 (Pocket PC
Windows Mobile

Windows Mobile is a compact operating system combined with a suite of basic applications for mobile devices based on the Microsoft Windows API application programming interface....
)
December 5, 2001 (Smartphone
Windows Mobile

Windows Mobile is a compact operating system combined with a suite of basic applications for mobile devices based on the Microsoft Windows API application programming interface....
) 		Pocket PC
Windows Mobile

Windows Mobile is a compact operating system combined with a suite of basic applications for mobile devices based on the Microsoft Windows API application programming interface....
 2002
Smartphone
Windows Mobile

Windows Mobile is a compact operating system combined with a suite of basic applications for mobile devices based on the Microsoft Windows API application programming interface....
 2002 		 
Windows Media Player 7.1 May 21, 2001 Pocket PC
Windows Mobile

Windows Mobile is a compact operating system combined with a suite of basic applications for mobile devices based on the Microsoft Windows API application programming interface....
 2000 		 
Windows Media Player 7 December 12, 2000 Pocket PC
Windows Mobile

Windows Mobile is a compact operating system combined with a suite of basic applications for mobile devices based on the Microsoft Windows API application programming interface....
 2000 		 
Windows Media Player 1.2 September 7, 2000 Handheld PC
Handheld PC

A Handheld PC, or H/PC for short, is a term for a computer built around a form factor which is smaller than any standard laptop computer. It is sometimes referred to as a Palmtop....
 2000 		 
Windows Media Player 1.1 Palm-size PC
Palm-size PC

The Palm-Size PC was Microsoft's first attempt at a computer conforming to an 'in your hand' profile .These devices demonstrated many firsts for this form factor, including comparatively high-resolution Liquid crystal displays with later versions even having color displays and a standardized software environment that ran on licensed OEM har...
 CE 2.11 		 
Windows Media Player April 19, 2000 Pocket PC
Windows Mobile

Windows Mobile is a compact operating system combined with a suite of basic applications for mobile devices based on the Microsoft Windows API application programming interface....
 2000 		 
Mac OS
Mac OS

Mac OS is the trademarked name for a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer systems....
Windows Media Player 9 Series November 7, 2003 Mac OS X
Mac OS X

Mac OS X is a line of computer operating systems developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc., and since 2002 has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems....
 		 Corona
Windows Media Player 7 July 24, 2001 7.0.1 Mac OS 8
Mac OS 8

Mac OS 8 is an operating system released by Apple Inc. on July 26 1997. It represented the largest overhaul of the Mac OS since the release of System 7 , some six years previous....

Mac OS 9
Mac OS 9

Mac OS 9 is the final major release of Apple Inc. "Classic" Mac OS. Introduced on October 23 1999, Apple positioned it as "The Best Internet Operating System Ever," highlighting Apple Sherlock Internet search capabilities, integration with Apple's free online services known as .Mac, and improved Open Transport networking....
 		 
Windows Media Player 6.3 July 17, 2000 Mac OS 7
System 7

System 7 is the name of a Macintosh operating system. Several other things are also called "System 7":...

Mac OS 8
Mac OS 8

Mac OS 8 is an operating system released by Apple Inc. on July 26 1997. It represented the largest overhaul of the Mac OS since the release of System 7 , some six years previous....
 		 
Solaris
Windows Media Player 6.3 July 17, 2000 Solaris


European Commission case

In March 2004, the European Commission
European Commission

The European Commission is the executive of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Treaties of the European Union and the general day-to-day running of the Union....
 in the European Union Microsoft antitrust case
European Union Microsoft antitrust case

The European Union Microsoft competition case is a case brought by the European Commission of the European Union against Microsoft for abuse of its dominant position in the market ....
 fined Microsoft €497 million and ordered the company to provide a version of Windows without Windows Media Player, claiming Microsoft "broke European Union
European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 European Union member state, located primarily in Europe. It was established by the Treaty of Maastricht on 1 November 1993 upon the foundations of the pre-existing European Economic Community....
 competition law by leveraging its near monopoly
Monopoly

In economics, a monopoly exists when a specific individual or enterprise has sufficient control over a particular product or service to determine significantly the terms on which other individuals shall have access to it....
 in the market for PC operating systems onto the markets for work group server
Server (computing)

A server is a computer program that provides services to other computer programs , in the same or other computer. The physical computer that runs a server program is also often referred to as server....
 operating systems and for media players". The company has made available a compliant version of its flagship operating system under the negotiated name "Windows XP N", though the product has not been very successful. Windows Vista is also available in "N" editions. Still, with these editions it is possible to either install Windows Media Player (XP/Vista) or the Media Restore Pack through Windows Update
Windows Update

Windows Update is a service provided by Microsoft that provides updates for the Microsoft Windows operating system and its installed components....
 (Vista) to gain the media player functionality back.

See also

  • List of media players
  • Comparison of media players
    Comparison of media players

    The following comparison of media players compares general and technical information for a number of software media player programs.For the purpose of this comparison, "video players" are defined as any media player which can play video, even if it can also play audio files....
  • Media Transfer Protocol
    Media Transfer Protocol

    The Media Transfer Protocol is a devised set of custom extensions to the Picture Transfer Protocol . Whereas PTP was designed for downloading photographs from digital cameras, Media Transfer Protocol supports the transfer of music files on digital audio players and movie files on portable media players....
  • Windows Media Encoder
    Windows Media Encoder

    Windows Media Encoder is a freely downloadable Multimedia codec developed by Microsoft which enables content developers to convert or capture both live and prerecorded audio, video, and computer screen images to Windows Media formats for live and Video on demand delivery....
  • Windows Media Services
    Windows Media Services

    Windows Media Services is a Streaming media media server from Microsoft that allows an administrator to generate streaming media . Only Windows Media, JPEG, and MP3 formats are supported....


External links

  • (10 April 2003, vnunet.com)