WMA (Windows Media Audio)

WMA (Windows Media Audio) is a family of audio codecs developed by Microsoft and introduced in 1999 as a competitor to MP3. Besides the standard lossy version, there are WMA Pro, WMA Lossless and WMA Voice variants. WMA files normally use Microsoft's ASF container and play natively in Windows Media Player, but support on Apple devices, Android and web browsers is limited.

You will mostly find WMA in older music libraries ripped with Windows Media Player. For everyday listening on phones, cars and other devices, converting WMA to MP3 or AAC avoids playback problems. Avoid creating new WMA files unless a specific Windows system requires them.

Source formats: .wma