Tips to open WM file

Can't open the WM file? You are not the only one. Thousands of users face similar problems every day. Below you will find tips on how to open WM files as well as a list of programs that support WM files.

WM file extension

File Name Windows Media Format
File Developer Microsoft
File Category Video Files

The WM file is supported on 1 operating systems. Depending on your operating system, you may need different software to handle the WM files. Below is a summary of the number of programs that support and open the WM file on each system platform.

Operating systems
  • 3
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

What is WM file?

The WM file has been categorized as Video Files. It was designed by Microsoft. Additionally, the Video Files category contains 546 of other files. Windows Media Format is most often found on 1 operating systems. The file will work on Windows systems, unfortunately not on others. Alternatively, you can use 2 other programs. The Windows Media Player, jetAudio programs will also handle the file when the Microsoft Windows Video program does not fulfill its role.

How to open WM file?

An often recurring problem with Windows Media Format is that WM is not associated with the correct program file. This is manifested by the fact that WM files open in unusual applications or do not have an assigned program. How to solve such a problem?

The first thing you should do is just "doubleclick" on the WM file icon you want to open. If the operating system has an appropriate application to support it and there is also an association between the file and the program, the file should be opened.

Step 1. Install Microsoft Windows Video

An often overlooked issue is to make sure that Microsoft Windows Video is installed on the computer. This can be achieved by typing Microsoft Windows Video into the operating system search engine. In the absence of an appropriate program, its installation in the vast majority of cases will fix the problem. Later in this article you will find a list of programs that can open WM files.

Step 2. Create association of Microsoft Windows Video with WM files

If the application is or has been freshly installed, but the WM file still does not use the Microsoft Windows Video program, it means no association. The association can be created using the drop-down list available by right-clicking on the file and selecting Properties. Information about the file and the program that the file is associated with are available here. Changes can be made using the "Change" button. It may happen that in the next window there will be no appropriate program - however, this can be corrected with the "Browse" option where you should manually indicate the program location. The "always use the selected program ..." field will set the Microsoft Windows Video application as the default for handling the WM file.

Step 3. Update Microsoft Windows Video to the latest version

If, despite the association of the Microsoft Windows Video program with the Windows Media Format file, the file still does not open, check the program version and possibly update it to the newest version.

Step 4. Check for the following problems with the WM file

If the above steps do not help, you can assume that the file itself is not correct. File problems can be divided into the following:

Very often, the file may be size 0 or incomplete. This suggests truncating the WM file contents when downloading or copying. Downloading the file again should fix the problem.
The computer may have fallen victim to a computer virus or hacker. A quick virus scan using an up-to-date antivirus program should clear up any doubts. If this is not possible, you can use the online scanner. The scan should cover the entire computer, not only the WM file that we want to open. As a result of the scan, sometimes it is not possible to recover WM files, which are deleted if there is a backup of this file, then after restoring it, it must also be scanned.
This can happen especially when the program is dynamically developed and the structure of the WM files changes over time. On their websites, developers usually offer free solutions to such problems, e.g. in the form of a conversion program or an older version of the program.
There can be many reasons for the failure. Repairing is very dependent on the file type. Sometimes the program itself has options to repair the most popular WM file corruption.
The program can also signal the fact of encryption. The encrypted WM files can be used by the device on which they were encrypted, on any other device it is required to have the appropriate cryptographic key and decrypt the file before its recovery.
Some of the system directories are excluded from modification. These directories are write-protected to them and it's very hard to fix this problem. If possible, you can try to move the WM file to another location.
This problem only occurs with more complex files. In this case, the WM file is blocked by the first application to open it. Closing other programs should help. Sometimes you have to wait for the session to the file WM to close. However, some background programs may block the WM file while scanning. If this does not work either, restart the device.