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Using Windows Media 8 Encoding Utility

Windows Media 8 Encoding Utility is a command-line tool that enables you to take uncompressed files with .wma, .wmv, .avi, and .wav file name extensions and compress them into Windows Media format files with .wma and .wmv extensions. The resulting files can then be used for streaming or on-demand playback. Windows Media 8 Encoding Utility does not support live capture or live broadcasts.

Windows Media 8 Encoding Utility is installed by default in the Program Files\Windows Media Components\Tools directory.

The basic command-line syntax for Windows Media 8 Encoding Utility is:

wm8eutil -input input_file_name -output output_file_name [-option]

The command line contains three required items, plus any additional command-line options:

Here is an example of the basic encoding command:

wm8eutil –input myfile.avi –output myfile.wmv

This command takes the source file "myfile.avi" and converts it to "myfile.wmv." If you don't specify the file name extension, then it will be appended to the file name for you. The converted file resides in the same directory as the source file.

If you have a number of files that are contained within the same directory or subdirectories and want to convert all of them to Windows Media format, you can specify directory names in both the –input and –output portions of the command, and all files within that directory will be converted. Here is an example of the command that would convert all files in the My-songs directory:

wm8eutil –input my-songs –output my-songs-coded

Additional command-line options are available and can be appended to the end of the basic command. These options enable you to specify profiles, set start and end times, designate configuration files, set the buffer size and image quality settings, and so on.

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