ASF File Extension
Have a problem opening a .ASF file? We collect information about file formats and can explain what ASF files are. Additionally we recommend software suitable for opening or converting such files.
Have a problem opening a .ASF file? We collect information about file formats and can explain what ASF files are. Additionally we recommend software suitable for opening or converting such files.
The .asf extension serves to denote the Advanced Systems Format (also, Advanced Streaming Format) (ASF) and the associated file type (.asf). ASF is a proprietary container format developed by Microsoft (MS) for its Windows Media framework. The ASF format is suitable for both local and streamed media, and capable of storing extensive metadata inside .asf files (similar to ID3 tags).
An .asf file is an ASF digital audio/video container file that can hold audio and/or video tracks encoded with different codecs.
Although ASF does not impose the use of specific codecs for the contained audio/video tracks, it is still mainly used with the Windows Media codecs. ASF media files can have different extensions/file types (.wma for Windows Media Audio, and .wmv for Windows Media Video), and the actual .asf extension is conventionally assigned to files encoded with third-party (non-Microsoft) codecs.
ASF files can be opened/played back with any media player that supports Windows Media (and any additional codecs that may have been used to encode audio/video tracks inside the .asf container).