As part of its efforts to promote the Windows Media platform, Microsoft offers a wide range of tools for third parties to support or implement the platform in their software, hardware, and services. This chart lists the most important tools, but Microsoft offers other tools for even more specialized purposes (e.g., a command-line utility for combining multiple monaural WAV files into one AVI file).

In addition to these tools, Microsoft also licenses the right to port certain Windows Media platform components, such as codecs and digital rights management (DRM) support, to hardware components, such as digital signal processors and application-specific integrated circuits, which can then be repackaged by hardware manufacturers.

Tool	Description	Audience	Availability
Encoder	Capture and encode content, apply the Windows Media codecs, and/or package as ASF file	Content providers and distributors, enterprises, sophisticated end users	Free download

As part of its efforts to promote the Windows Media platform, Microsoft offers a wide range of tools for third parties to support or implement the platform in their software, hardware, and services. This chart lists the most important tools, but Microsoft offers other tools for even more specialized purposes (e.g., a command-line utility for combining multiple mono WAV files into an AVI file).

In addition to these tools, Microsoft also licenses the right to port certain Windows Media platform components, such as codecs and digital rights management (DRM) support, to hardware components, such as digital signal processors and application-specific integrated circuits, which can then be repackaged by hardware manufacturers.

Tool	Description	Audience	Availability
Encoder	Capture and encode content, apply the Windows Media codecs, and/or package as ASF file	Content providers and distributors, enterprises, sophisticated end users	Free download
Encoder