Windows Media is a discontinued multimedia framework for media creation and distribution for Microsoft Windows. It consists of a software development kit (SDK) with several application programming interfaces (API) and a number of prebuilt technologies, and is the replacement of NetShow technologies.

The Windows Media SDK was replaced by Media Foundation when Windows Vista was released.

Software

• Windows Media Center
• Windows Media Player
• Windows Media Encoder
• Windows Media Services
• Windows Movie Maker

Formats

• Advanced Systems Format (ASF)
• Advanced Stream Redirector (ASX)
• Windows Media Audio (WMA)
• Windows Media Playlist (WPL)
• Windows Media Video (WMV) and VC-1
• Windows Media Station (NSC)
• WMV HD, (Windows Media Video High Definition), the branding name for high definition (HD) media content encoded using Windows Media codecs. WMV HD is not a separate codec.
• HD Photo (formerly Windows Media Photo, standardized as JPEG XR)
• DVR-MS, the recording format used by Windows Media Center
• SAMI, the closed caption format developed by Microsoft. It can be used to synchronize captions and audio descriptions with online video.

Protocols

• Media Stream Broadcast (MSB), for multicast distribution of Advanced Systems Format content over a network
• Media Transfer Protocol (MTP), for transferring and synchronizing media on portable devices
• Microsoft Media Services (MMS), the streaming transport protocol
• Windows Media DRM, an implementation of digital rights management