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Viewing wmv attachments in iPhone email

N

Never2L8

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 30, 2009
20
0
LA area of Southern California
I get emails with .wmv files attached. At home on my PowerBook, I can view them using Windows Media Player. On my iPhone, nothing.

I just downloaded "Flip4Mac" and am now able to open wmv files with QuickTime on my PowerBook. It works very well.

Back to the iPhone... if you shoot a video and email it, the attachment is a .MOV and it will open with QuickTime on a Mac. On the iPhone, it has the QT logo, and you can play the video.

So why can't they offer something like Flip4Mac as an iPhone app? It's annoying to have to wait til I get home to view wmv files on my laptop. And since wmv is such a popular format, why can't the App Store just go with the flow?

If anyone knows of a way to view wmv files attached in email on the iPhone, I would love to hear about it!

Thanks.
 
Actually, .wmv is not a very popular format. Most of movies you download are in .avi format which can be easily viewed on iPhone.

On the issue of viewing .wmv, I think Apple deliberately trying to prevent using non-Apple type formats with their devices. The cold war between computer giants lives on!
 
iphonetester said:
Actually, .wmv is not a very popular format. Most of movies you download are in .avi format which can be easily viewed on iPhone.
Click to expand...
I wish it were the case for me. Living in the Seattle area, I get lots of WMV files via e-mail from friends and co-workers. :(

I can often find the YouTube video that has the same content, but that doesn't always happen...
 
iphonetester said:
Actually, .wmv is not a very popular format. Most of movies you download are in .avi format which can be easily viewed on iPhone.
Click to expand...

Do you have any stats for this? Not trying to be an ass, I just would have thought its the other way around - I seem to run into WMV files more than any other type (although lately more and more websites are starting to give you a choice).
 
Runt888 said:
Do you have any stats for this? Not trying to be an ass, I just would have thought its the other way around - I seem to run into WMV files more than any other type (although lately more and more websites are starting to give you a choice).
Click to expand...

That's just a typical statement from someone who thinks Apple is the be all to end all. WMV is just as popular, but Apple doesn't seem to want to support the competition, IMO.
 
iphonetester said:
Actually, .wmv is not a very popular format. Most of movies you download are in .avi format which can be easily viewed on iPhone.

On the issue of viewing .wmv, I think Apple deliberately trying to prevent using non-Apple type formats with their devices. The cold war between computer giants lives on!
Click to expand...

Sorry but that general statement is completely false. So many people including myself have come across more wmv attachments than I can count. wmv is one of THE most popular formats out there. The fact of the matter is, Apple does not like supporting competition, ESP MSFT.
 
iphone.aggie said:
That's just a typical statement from someone who thinks Apple is the be all to end all. WMV is just as popular, but Apple doesn't seem to want to support the competition, IMO.
Click to expand...

Outrigger said:
Sorry but that general statement is completely false. So many people including myself have come across more wmv attachments than I can count. wmv is one of THE most popular formats out there. The fact of the matter is, Apple does not like supporting competition, ESP MSFT.
Click to expand...

Uh, yeah. And where are YOUR facts coming from? I'm unaware of any official numbers on this sort of thing, so it's odd that you both seem so certain.

As for me, I'm gonna go wtih MPEG 4 being the obvious answer to 'what's most used' but hey, I don't have any numbers either.
 
It's interesting that people seem to be coming across so many .wmv files out there. Even before I came to Mac last summer, DivX and XviD were dominating in the illegal downloads and h.264 was starting to develop a strong following on the Web. I can't remember the last time I came across a .wmv unless it was on some DRM-protected site.
 
Found a Solution

I got an email from Mac Forums saying there was a reply to this post, but I do not see the reply here - I'm not sure why... maybe it got removed?

I'm relatively new to this forum and I don't want to break any rules, so I'm not going to post that reply.

Basically there is a server out there that will convert your wmv, etc. videos in your email to a video format compatible with the iphone. The server emails it back to you.

I signed up for the free trial version. It does work! I was able to view the video on my iphone.
 
Really, it doesn't matter what the most popular format is.

All you need is one relative who loves to email innocent videos that are not compatible with the iphone.

If you want to view those videos on your iphone, then you need a solution.
 
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