.ASX files

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Level 3

524 points

.ASX files

How can I open .asx files with my computer...I have the following media players...

Quicktime
Windows Media Player
Real Player
MPlayer OS
VLC

None seem to work...am I doing something wrong?

1.25GHz eMac, 512MB RAM,, Mac OS X (10.3.8), LaCie 160GB Firewire, iSight, iPod, Airport Express

Posted on Jan 6, 2006 6:47 PM

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Answer 1

Jan 6, 2006 10:14 PM in response to Brian Lauzon

Hi!

If you change the extension from asx to asf or wmv Windows Media Player should recognize the file and will most likely take to you to a webpage telling you that your software doesn't support DRM.

ASX files are essentially playlists for Windows Media Player. They are typically very small files (108K) that point to media locations on the Internet from which the video or audio would be streamed. The vast majority of the asx files that I've seen point to media that requires DRM license keys for playback. Unfortunately, Microsoft has not implemented the ability to handle the license keys on their Mac version of Windows Media Player - so Windows is required.

You could use HexEdit to look at the contents of the asx file and see what URLs will be accessed for DRM licenses. Chances are someone just wanted to track the IP address of everyone who tried opening that asx file for marketing purposes perhaps.

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