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, go to http://msdn.microsoft.com/isapi/gomscom.asp?TARGET=/windows/windowsmedia/download/default.asp. 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 (http://msdn.microsoft.com/isapi/gomscom.asp?TARGET=/windows/windowsmedia/partners/tools/default.asp) also incorporate ASF functionality to help speed the authoring process or provide enhanced features.
Task | Recommended Tool | Tool Features | How to Get the Tool |
Live Content Production |
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Convert and compress live audio and video into Advanced Streaming Format (ASF) files. | Windows Media Encoder | · Template-based encoding options | 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 | 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 · Clients need Windows Media Player & Web browser | On a machine with PowerPoint 97 installed, download and install Windows Media Tools. |
On-Demand Content Production |
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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) · 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 · 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 | 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
· Simple batch processing | 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
· Simple batch processing | 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 |
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Edit existing ASF files. | Windows Media Indexer | · Adds indexing to video files (Scroll/Fast-forward/ | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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. |