MMS, short for Microsoft Media Server, is a Microsoft proprietary network streaming protocol that can be transferred via UDP or TCP. It’s recommended using “mms://” as a protocol rollover. Since it’s not a mainstream protocol for streaming media over the Internet, it’s not easy to get the media played through a browser which often requires a Windows Media Player plugin installed.
If you are having difficulty playing a media over MMS protocol in a browser, you can normally play it without any issue in Windows Media Player. Go to File → Open URL…, and paste in the media link starting with mms:// protocol.
Also, here is a way that you can use to download the media through Internet and play it locally using Windows Media Player. And we will be using the popular media player VLC in this case.
Open VLC media player, go to Media → Convert/Save.
Switch to Network tab, paste in the mms:// media link, and choose Convert from the drop-down list.
In the Convert dialog box, choose “Dump raw input” option, specify the location where the media file will be saved, and click Start to begin the process.
Now, sit back and wait for the download process to finish. VLC media player will stream through the media and save a copy in a location specified in above.
Great guide. I don’t know VLC can download video. In my mind, it’s just a good video player. Thanks for sharing your experience. I used to save stream videos to my laptop with Acethinker Video Downloader, free and works like a charm. Share it here as an alternative to VLC player.