Windows Media Tools

Rick Dickinson
Microsoft Corporation

Posted April 14, 1999

The Windows® Media Tools component of Windows Media Technologies offers a full range of tools for creating and editing live and on-demand Advanced Streaming Format (ASF) content. The table below lists recommended tools for a variety of common authoring and editing tasks. To download Windows Media Tools or Windows Media On-Demand Producer, click here. The Windows Media Tools download includes complete documentation. Once installed, open the documentation by clicking the Windows Start button, then Programs, Windows Media, Windows Media Tools Documentation. Many third-party tools also incorporate ASF functionality to help speed the authoring process or provide enhanced features.

Live Content Production
Task	Recommended Tool	Tool Features	How to Get the Tool
Convert and compress live audio and video into Advanced Streaming Format (ASF) files.	Windows Media Encoder	Template-based encoding options Controls for scaled encoding Insert script commands and URL flips on the fly	Download and install Windows Media Tools. Once installed, open by clicking Start/Programs/Windows Media/Encoder.
Convert and compress live audio and video into a live stream.	Windows Media Encoder	See above.	See above
Create live audio & video synchronized with PowerPoint® 2000 slides.	Presentation Broadcast (part of Microsoft® PowerPoint 2000)	Archiving for later on-demand access Slide changes synchronized with presenter's audio and video Only the presenter needs PowerPoint 2000 Clients need Windows Media Player & Web browser	Install Microsoft Office 2000. Click here for more information.
Create live audio & video synchronized with PowerPoint 97 slides.	Windows Media Presenter	Archiving for later on-demand access Slide changes synchronized with presenter's audio and video Only the presenter needs PowerPoint 97 Clients need Windows Media Player & Web browser	On a machine with PowerPoint 97 installed, download and install Windows Media Tools.
On-Demand Content Production
Convert audio & video files to ASF format.	Windows Media On-Demand Producer, Windows Media Encoder (see above).	Basic media trimming (mark in and out points) Fade-in and fade-out settings Insert script commands, URL flips, markers, and text/captions Simple batch processing	Download and install from the Windows Media Tools site. Once installed, open by clicking Start/Programs/Windows Media/Windows Media On-Demand Producer.
Create slideshow-style presentations.	Windows Media Author	Low-bandwidth content authoring Project-based authoring of multiple bit-rate presentations Basic HTML template support	Download and install Windows Media Tools. Once installed, open by clicking Start/Programs/Windows Media/Author.
Create ASF files directly from Adobe Premiere.	Windows Media Plug-in for Adobe Premiere	Easy ASF file creation Common stream formats template Easy ASF testing and editing	On a machine with Adobe Premiere installed, download and install Windows Media Tools. Tool will appear as a "Save to ASF" option in Adobe Premiere.
Create live or on-demand audio & video synchronized with PowerPoint 2000 slides.	Presentation Broadcast (part of PowerPoint 2000)	See entry under Live Content Production.	See entry under Live Content Production.
Convert PowerPoint 97 presentations into ASF.	Windows Media Presenter	See entry under Live Content Production.	See entry under Live Content Production.
Convert MOV and AVI files to ASF.	Windows Media VidToASF	MS-DOS interface Insert script commands, URL flips, markers, and text/captions Simple batch processing Pre-compressed files only	Download and install Windows Media Tools. Once installed, invoke VidToASF at an MS-DOS command line prompt. See the Windows Media Tools Documentation for more information.
Convert WAV and mp3 files to ASF.	Windows Media WavtoASF	MS-DOS command-line tool Insert script commands, URL flips, markers, and text/captions Simple batch processing Pre-compressed files only	Download and install Windows Media Tools. Once installed, invoke WavToASF at an MS-DOS command line prompt. See the Windows Media Tools Documentation for more information.
Post-Production Editing of ASF & ASX Files
Edit existing ASF files.	Windows Media Indexer	Adds indexing to video files (Scroll/Fast-forward/Rewind) Adds properties, markers, script commands to ASFs Imports and exports script files	Download and install Windows Media Tools. Once installed, open by clicking Start/Programs/Windows Media/Indexer.
Delete parts of ASF files.	Windows Media ASFChop	MS-DOS command-line tool Insert script commands, URL flips, markers, and text/captions Indexing capabilities	Download and install Windows Media Tools. Once installed, invoke ASFChop at an MS-DOS command line prompt. See the Windows Media Tools Documentation for more information.
Verify syntax of manually-created ASX files.	Windows Media ASX3Test	MS-DOS command-line tool Varying level of detail reported Batch processing	Download and install Windows Media Tools. Once installed, invoke ASX3Test at an MS-DOS command line prompt. See the Windows Media Tools Documentation for more information.
Detect and fix problems commonly found in ASF version 1.0 files.	Windows Media ASFCheck	MS-DOS command-line tool Batch capabilities	Download and install Windows Media Tools. Once installed, invoke ASFCheck at an MS-DOS command line prompt. See the Windows Media Tools Documentation for more information.