Samsung needs to support WMA music files

[Yamon234]

Apparently Samsung doesn't support WMA music files. Since "upgrading" to my s21 ultra my alarms don't go off half the time anymore making me late for work. Come to find out when you have an alarm app set to randomly play music it can see but doesn't play WMA files. So the screen lights up but no music plays when a WMA file is randomly selected. This really is as simple as them adding the codec to the Android OS. Their solution they've posted is find a player that supports it. And while my music app Power Amp does. It's not an alarm app and I can't find an alarm app that supports its own codecs. Their current response is unacceptable for such an expensive product theyve cut so many features off of. I spent alot of money on a phone that can't function as an alarm the way I want it to. 

[Anonymous]

Try the Google clock from the play store. That's what I use on my phone's and never had an issue. I don't know if it plays the files you mentioned though.

[Yamon234]

It can't play them either. All alarm apps I've found rely on the phones built in codecs to support audio playback. Thanks for the suggestion tho

[bill-e]

What did you upgrade from?  With the exception of a few old Motorola phones, Android doesn't support WMA.  It's an Android thing not Samsung.

If you want Samsung to add the ability to play wma then you should sign into Samsung Members, go the the help section (headset icon) and request it there.

I converted all my WMA's to mp3 a decade ago and since only use mp3.

[Yamon234]

I upgraded from an s8. But according to posts made by Samsung representatives this feature was recently lost on phones shipping in 2021. I also have a s10 work phone on the same version of Android as my s21 that works perfectly still. So its not an android thing it's a Samsung thing. They removed the codec from the newest s21 line.

[bill-e]

Then it's an Android and Samsung thing 😉  If you research you'll see that WMA is not supported natively in Android since around Android 3.  I've just come back to Samsung after being away for quite a few years and like I said I had converted everything to mp3 for my Moto phones .

So Samsung must have offered it as a Samsung feature and as you've discovered now dropped it.

In any event, use Members to log your request.

Edit:  It'll be quicker to convert those wma's than waiting for the feature update.

[userUvFQkCgIHR]

Not correct

Other (3rd party software do support WMA) so it is Samsung's thing not android

https://www.samsung.com/sg/support/mobile-devices/what-to-do-when-limited-music-files-can-be-played-...

Besides Samsung music did support WMA on android only 2 years ago. it must be some issue with rights or similar. I would install it if I know how to prevent phone to not to update this specific app

https://www.sammobile.com/apk/samsung-music/samsung-music-16-2-17-19/

[userhUS69voanw · Accepted solution]

That link is from Samsung Singapore here is the link from Samsung US

https://www.samsung.com/us/support/troubleshooting/TSG01213339/

A WMA file (Windows Media Audio) is used for listening to music in Windows Media Player on a PC computer. In the past, Galaxy phones supported WMA files, but now they do not.

If your Galaxy phone is a 2021 or later model, it will not support WMA files. However, you can still listen to these files by downloading a third-party app from the Google Play Store.

In Short, Samsung no longer supports WMA files to be used on their systems like assigning ringtones using the WMA

But if you use a 3rd party app like a VLC player it will just play that audio.

[userMijJUDPPXX]

WMA doesn't work on my S20 FE either. Really annoying, as I've digitised all my CDs as .wma's GRRRRR!

[userUvFQkCgIHR]

Wrong place to post it moved downward not to confuse other users