

For this reason, if you want to play WMV or WMA files on your Mac you need to use third-party software. Microsoft does not offer Windows Media Player for the Mac.

Even users who never had a Windows machine themselves may download WMV or WMA files and need a way to play them on their Apple computer. The lack of a native WMV or WMA player on a Mac can be a real problem, especially for users who are migrating from a Windows environment and wish to bring along their media files. Unfortunately for those users who prefer Macs, these programs are not available to run under macOS. Microsoft recommends these players to play WMV and WMA files. On Windows machines, these media files play easily using the built-in Windows Media Player and Windows Video programs.

Windows Media Audio (WMA) files only store audio data. Windows Media Video (WMV) files contain, as you would expect, video sound and images. These are Windows Media files and cannot be played on your Mac using native OS functionality. You may have seen WMV or WMA files that have been downloaded to your Mac. First Things First: What Are WMA and WMV Files? It is possible to play Windows Media files on macOS, and we are going to show you how to do it.
