dBpoweramp Codec Central: Windows Media Audio
 
Requirements

 dBpoweramp R12 or newer required. WMA v10 requires Vista or XP. WMA v9 requires Windows 98+
Decoder will decode all older versions of WMA, except files which have been DRM Protected by creator.

Download (choose one only!)

Windows Media Audio 10 Pro Release 6 (Windows XP)    10636 KB

Windows Media Audio 10 Pro Release 6 (Windows Vista)    396 KB

Windows Media Audio 9 Pro  (older for Windows 9x & 2000)  4365 KB

Description

Windows Media Audio encompasses multiple codecs into one:

  • Windows Media Audio Lossless
  • Windows Media Audio (a lossy codec)
  • Windows Media Audio Professional  (lossy higher quality than standard)
  • Windows Media Audio Voice
  • ACLEP.net  (low bit rate, voice optimized)

Different versions of WMA are confusing to say the least, not least because they do not go up in consecutive version numbers. Windows Media Audio v2 was the first, then v4, v7, v8, v9, v9.1 (and v9 PRO), v9.2 and v10 PRO.

Windows Media Audio 9.2  (not voice, lossless or professional) is backwards compatible with all playback devices. Newer lossless, voice and professional require new decoders (very few portable players will play these).

Further details: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmedia          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Media_Audio

Decodes   .wma  .wmv  .asf      Encodes   .wma