As a consumer device produced by Western Digital, WD TV can play videos, music and images from USB drives. It can also play high definition video through an HDMI port and standard video through composite video cables. Before streaming any local video to WD devices, first have a look at all WD TV compatible file formats including WD TV HD, WD TV Live and WD TV Mini media player.
Supported file formats for WD TV
Media File Formats Supported on WD TV HD Media Player (Gen 1)
Video -- WMV9, AVI (MPEG1/2/4, Xvid, AVC), H.264, MKV (h.264, x.264, AVC, MPEG1/2/4, VC-1), MOV - (MPEG4, H.264), M2TS, TP, TS, MOV/MP4 (MPEG4, h.264), DVR-MS, VOB (unprotected or unencrypted)
MPEG2/4, H.264, and WMV9 support up to 1920x1080p 24fps, 1920x1080i 30fps, 1280x720p 60fps resolution.
- FLV file extensions are NOT supported. Neither are RMVB videos from Real Media. You will need to use conversion software to convert them to a supported format.
- The WD TV HD Media Player only supports certain types of codecs based on the extension of your file. You can check the User Manual for a list of supported codecs for each file extension.
Audio -- MP3, WMA, MPA, M4A, MP4A, OGG, WAV/PCM/LPCM, AAC, FLAC, Dolby Digital, AIF/AIFF, MKA
- An audio receiver is required for surround sound output (including the unsupported DTS audio codec). For more information see Answer ID 3590: DTS support on the WD TV Media Player
- AAC/Dolby Digital decodes in 2 channel output only.
Media File Formats Supported on WD TV Live Streaming Media Player, WD TV Live Hub Media Center, WD TV Live Plus HD Media Player, WD TV Live (WDBAAx0000NBK) HD Media Player, and WD TV HD Media Player (Gen 2)
Video -- MPEG1/2/4, WMV9, AVI (MPEG4, Xvid, AVC), H.264, MKV, MOV (MPEG4, H.264), M2TS, TP, TRP, TS, MP4, ASF, VOB (unprotected or unencrypted)
- MPEG2/4, H.264, and WMV9 support up to 1920x1080p 24fps, 1920x1080i 30fps, 1280x720p 60fps resolution.
- FLV file extensions are supported (using a video codec of H.264 and an Audio codec of AAC only) in the latest firmware version for all of the above devices besides the WD TV HD Media Player (Gen 2).
- RMVB videos from Real Media are not supported. You will need to use conversion software to convert them to a supported format.
- The WD TV Live HD Media Player only supports certain types of codecs based on the extension of your file. You can check the User Manual for a list of supported codecs for each file extension.
Audio -- MP3, WAV/PCM/LPCM, WMA, AAC, FLAC, MKA, AIF/AIFF, OGG, Dolby Digital, DTS
- AAC/Dolby Digital/DTS decodes in 2 channel output only. You will need an audio receiver capable of decoding these codecs for additional channels.
Media File Formats Supported on WD TV Mini Media Player
Video -- AVI (Xvid, MPEG1/2/4), MPG/MPEG, VOB, MP4/MOV (MPEG4), RM or RMVB 8/9/10
- RMVB supports up to 1024x576x24, 1024x576x30, or 800x600x30 compressed video resolution.
- MPEG1/2/4 supports up to D1 resolution (720x480 in NTSC, 720x576 in PAL)
- RMVB videos will play on the WD TV Mini Media Player only. They are not supported on the original WD TV HD Media Player, or the WD TV Live HD Media Player.
- FLV file extensions are NOT supported. You will need to use conversion software to convert them to a supported format.
- The WD TV Mini Media Player only supports certain types of codecs based on the extension of your file. You can check the User Manual for a list of supported codecs for each file extension.
Audio -- MP3, WAV/PCM/LPCM, WMA, AAC, FLAC, MKA, OGG, APE
Play unsupported video audio on WD TV
From above list, we can see that WD TV has limited formats playback capability, in addition, it also has its own compatible file codec, resolution, bit rate, frame rate, channels, etc. To get any any unsupported file types played on WD TV, you will need a powerful media conversion tool. Pavtube Video Converter Ultimate for Windows/Mac (best video converter ultimate) is the remarkable application that enables you to convert various different media types including Blu-ray disc/BDMV folder/ISO image, DVD disc/Video_TS folder/VOB files, also incompatible digital file formats including H.265, AVCHD MTS/M2TS, MKV, AVI, MOV, FLV, Tivo files, etc to WD TV HD/WD TV Live/WD TV Mini media player accepted formats listed above.
Output compatible profile settings for WD TV
To achieve best playback effects on WD TV, you can adjust the output profile parameters such as video codec, bit rate, frame rate, resolution, audio codec, bit rate, sample rate, channels based on the list above.
How to Convert and Play Unsupported Video/Audio Files on WD TV HD/WD TV Live/WD TV Mini?
Step 1: Load unsupported files to the program.
Launch the application on your computer, click "File" > "Load Video/Audio" or "Load from Folder" to import WD TV incompatible file formats to the program.
Step 2: Output WD TV Media Player supported formats.
From "Format" drop-down list, select "HD Video > H.264 HD Video(*mp4)" as the output file format for playing on WD TV HD, WD TV Live and WD TV Mini.
Step 3：Adjust output profile parameters.
Click "Settings" to open "Profile Settings" window, here you can choose or specify the output parameters such as video/audio codecs, file size, bit rates, frame rates, etc as you like. And in the Task information section, you can compare the detailed information of the source video and the target video.
Step 4: Start video to WD TV Media Player conversion.
Clicking the Convert button on main interface,a Conversion window will pop out with the detailed conversion information such as Time elapsed, Time left, Generated size, and Estimated size.
After the conversion, you can click Open output folder to popup output directory with the converted files. Then transfer the converted files to your USB drive and plug it into the USB ports on your WD TV for playing back.
