How to Convert DRM M4V to WMV to Play Anywhere
"Can I convert M4V to WMV for playing on Windows Media Player when I am working at my office?" - Question from James online.
If you buy and download iTunes movies often, you may have already found that all kinds of iTunes videos such as movies, TV shows, music videos are having the same M4V format. As a proprietary format for Apple, it is rather similar to the MP4 format and plays perfectly on iTunes, QuickTime and Apple's devices, like iPod, iPad and iPhone, etc.
However, you are not able to play the iTunes M4V on other devices like PSP, Xbox One, Windows Phones and more. The main reason is that iTunes M4V is applied with the FairPlay DRM protection which limits it for playing on iTunes compatible devices only. Additionally even some DRM-free iTunes M4V videos, such as the music videos are not compatible with most players.
Consequently, removing DRM and converting iTunes M4V to a more widely-used format such as WMV is necessary if you want to play them freely. Here I will walk you through the steps on how to easily convert iTunes M4V to WMV on Mac.
View also: Edit iTunes M4V on Windows Movie Maker
Part 1. Introduction of the Best M4V to WMV Converter
There are multiple M4V to WMV converters on the market including free and paid software. For the DRM free iTunes M4V videos, you can simply use a free online M4V to WMV converter to help you transcode the videos such as Handbrake, ZamZar, Freemake Video Converter and so on.
On the other hand, if you have DRM protected M4V files from iTunes, you have to get a specific DRM M4V to WMV Converter to decrypt DRM protection and convert them to a popular format. I have used a video recorder to help me bypass the DRM protection before, but the output quality will be significantly reduced, which I won't recommend.
Here I'd like to introduce a leading software namely DRmare M4V to WMV Converter to you. It differs from other competitive applications by adopting the latest DRM decryption and transcoding technology to convert iTunes M4V videos without any quality loss. What's more, it offers a totally free trial version so that you can test it out before buying. Following is a list of of its top features and advantages:
DRmare iTunes M4V Video Converter
- Bypass FairPlay DRM from iTunes M4V rentals and purchases while retaining quality
- Supports to convert M4V to WMV and a lot of other popular video formats and devices
- Run at a 30X faster speed, allow you to convert videos within several minutes
- Superior software interface and detailed user guide, you can use it with little effort
Part 2. Three Steps to Convert DRM iTunes M4V Files to WMV
With this excellent iTunes M4V to WMV Converter, you can transform your iTunes M4V videos to WMV format in three steps only. Here I will take the DRmare software Mac version to show you how does it work.
- Step 1 Browse DRM M4V files from iTunes
- For the iTunes videos which has been downloaded completely, you can drag and drop to load them to the DRmare M4V to WMV Converter directly. Or if you don't fee like to drag and drop, you can also navigate to the bottom left of the software screen to find and click the '+' icon. Then it will pop up a window to browse your videos from iTunes library.
- Step 2Choose WMV as the output format
- Next, you can go ahead to click the format icon, you will see a pop up panel to select the output format. After that, you can navigate to the 'General Video' tab and select 'WMV' Windows format as the output format. Besides that, you might try to customize video parameters, subtitles, audio tracks etc.
- Step 3Convert DRM iTunes M4V to WMV
- After confirming everything is all set, you can press the 'Convert' button. iTunes will then play the videos in the background and the DRmare software will start to convert your iTunes M4V movies to Windows format at up to 30X faster speed. Please don't close iTunes in case it may interrupt the software from converting. All you need to do is wait a few minutes for it to finish converting.
Video Guide: How to Convert DRM iTunes M4V to WMV on Mac
Part 3. More Info about WMV Format
WMV is short for Windows Media Video. It is a high compressed video format originally developed Microsoft for online streaming applications. It supports to compress the video file size without sacrificing the video image quality by converting videos to WMV format. When the WMV files are played, they can be recognized and decompressed by media players including Windows Media Player, RealPlayer, VLC and so on.
A common WMV file won't have any DRM protection and plays well across Windows systems and kinds of mobile devices. But some WMV files which use ASF codec could be applied with the Windows Media DRM. This is usually found in the media contents bought from Microsoft store such as the videos from Xbox etc. Fortunately, what we talked above to convert iTunes M4V to WMV, there certainly won't be any DRM encryption on the WMV files, so you can rest assured and enjoy them anywhere.
