Windows Media

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Windows Media is a discontinued multimedia framework for media creation and distribution for Microsoft Windows. It consisted of a software development kit (SDK) with several application programming interfaces (API) and a number of prebuilt technologies, and is the replacement of NetShow technologies.

Contents

The Windows Media SDK was replaced by Media Foundation when Windows Vista was released in 2007.

pre-2007

the first version of Windows Media was made in 1991 with the release of the Media center and Media player, both were basic by today's standard, but at the time it was called by some people "revolutionary", despite no screenshots online.

post-2000s

the rest of the services came with the windows XP Media Center Edition in 2001, where the encoder, Media services app, and the Movie maker, which lets you make your own videos, was released. it also had live TV w/tuner.

Windows Encoder:

the encoder was a discontinued, freeware media encoder developed by Microsoft which enabled content developers to convert or capture both live and prerecorded audio, video, and computer screen images to Windows Media formats for live and on-demand delivery. [1]

Windows Media services

the Media services app was a streaming media server software that allowed a Windows Server administrator to generate streaming media (audio/video). Only Windows Media, JPEG, and MP3 formats are supported. [2]

windows Movie Maker

the movie maker lets you make your own videos to either share to your friends or upload to the Media center. When you finish recording, you have the option to edit the video before you share.

post-2007

2007-2014

Windows vista and windows 7

with the release of Windows vista, Windows Media became Media foundation, and was featured in premium editions. This was the same with the release of windows 7 despite them being released 2 years apart from each other.

WIndows 8/8.1

with the release of Windows 8 and 8.1, Media center became a paid addon which was optional as their "all services" focus changed

2015-present

Windows 10 & 11

with the release of Windows 10 and 11, The Media center was replaced with Groove Music until 2023, where a new Media player app was released to all Windows computers since 2015.

Software

Formats

Protocols

  1. ↑ "Windows Media Encoder", Wikipedia, 2023-09-17, retrieved 2026-01-12
  2. ↑ "Windows Media Services", Wikipedia, 2024-09-09, retrieved 2026-01-12
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