The Mac companion for your Wii

Wii Transfer can share your movies, music, and pictures directly to your Nintendo Wii using the Internet Channel. Copy Miis from your Wii back to your Mac and save them as images. Browse iTunes playlists and iPhoto albums on your television. Convert your movies to a format the Wii understands, streaming directly from your Mac. Wii Transfer can even manage saved game backups copied to an SD card.

Screenshots

Click the thumbnails below for screenshots of some of the Wii Transfer interface on your Mac and from the Opera Internet Channel on the Wii.

Setup and preferences on Mac

Browsing interface on Wii

Feature Highlights

• Share movies, music, and pictures to your Wii over the local network.

• Copy Miis to your Mac and save them as JPEG images — new in version 2.6.

• Works with most common movie formats, including MOV, AVI, MPEG4, H.264, DivX, and more — but not compatible with iTunes movie purchases or rentals.

• Restrict browsing to specific iTunes playlists or iPhoto albums — new in version 2.6.

• Find iTunes and iPhoto movies directly within Wii Transfer for easy conversion — new in version 2.6.

• Works with MP3s or unprotected AAC files, including iTunes Plus and Amazon MP3.

• Drag-and-drop movie conversion for streaming.

• Set background music for picture slideshows.

• Browse Safari and Firefox bookmarks on your Wii.

• iTunes playlist support and browsing by album. Even search.

• Show album cover artwork in the music sharing interface.

• Browse and convert iTunes video podcasts from within Wii Transfer.

• AppleScript support for automated conversions.

• Backup saved game files from SD card to your Mac automatically.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I get the movies onto my Wii? → You can stream movies directly to your Wii from your Mac, after they have been converted by Wii Transfer.

What is the Internet Channel? → The Internet Channel (powered by the Opera web browser) is required for many Wii Transfer features. It's available through the Shopping Channel on your Nintendo Wii for free! (The Mii features, copying movies to SD card, or backing up saved games from an SD card do not require the Internet Channel.)

How do I copy Miis to my Mac? → First, Transfer your Miis to your Wii remote using the Mii Channel on your Nintendo Wii. Then, turn off your Wii and make sure Bluetooth is enabled on your Mac. Press the 1 and 2 buttons to start the Mii sync to your Mac. See the help for more details and full troubleshooting.

Why do the Mii images never show up on my Mac? → On some computers, the Mii data is copied to your Mac but the images never show up in Wii Transfer. Please upgrade to the latest version of Flash and Safari on your Mac (both of which are used inside Wii Transfer), and check the Wii Transfer help for troubleshooting tips. This is a known issue that effects a small number of computers, but if it happens to you please contact support so we can work with you directly to fix the problem.

Does it work with DRM-protected music or videos purchased from the iTunes Music Store? → No. Protected music and videos cannot be converted. However, unprotected AAC files are supported, including iTunes Plus songs and Amazon MP3.

What audio files does music sharing support? → Music sharing supports MP3s and unprotected AAC files. MP3 files with variable bitrate encoding will not play properly. AAC files are converted and cached as needed by Wii Transfer.

Where's the movie sound? → The demo version does not convert the sound in movies. Please purchase Wii Transfer to enable sound conversion. Additionally, because QuickTime is used for processing the sound, you may need to install the free Perian component for some formats such as XviD.

Why can't the Wii connect to my Mac for sharing? → Make sure that your Mac and Nintendo Wii are on the same local network. Open the Wii Transfer Help and search for "network setup" for details. If you use the Mac OS X built-in firewall, you will also need to open up port 9000 for Wii Transfer. Watch this screencast for a walk-through of changing your firewall on Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger from System Preferences. For 10.5 Leopard users, select "Set access for specific services and applications" in System Preferences » Security » Firewall and add Wii Transfer to the list of allowed applications.

What does the "240016: Protocol [IP address] not supported" error mean when trying to use the Internet Channel? → The Internet Channel can be picky about URLs that are not entered fully, including the "http://" at the beginning if you are using port numbers. Try entering the complete URL including "http://", port number, and trailing slash.

Why does the Help open to a blank window? → The help in version 2.5 was broken for some users, but is fixed in the latest version. You can also read the help online.

Does it work with MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 "muxed" files? → Partially. Due to a limitation in QuickTime, Wii Transfer cannot currently export audio from "muxed" (multiplexed) video to SD cards. To see if one of your movie files is encoded in this way, open it in QuickTime Player and choose Show Movie Info from the Window menu. This only applies to SD cards; the movie streaming feature has a different implementation.

Can I rip feature-length DVDs and watch them on my Wii? → Yes! I recommend that you test with the demo version first as the results will depend on your quality settings and network connection.

What about YouTube? → Wii Transfer makes a great companion to other Mac tools such as TubeSock that can save movies to your computer from YouTube.

Why does the Wii show memory errors when listening to music? → Unfortunately the Wii has limited memory, and large files (typically long audio podcasts or audio books, greater than about 10 MB) may not load completely. Normal music tracks are fine, and large movies are also not effected by this. A future version of Wii Transfer may work around these errors.

Should I be worried about screen burn-in on my television? → With modern televisions the risk of burn-in is very low, and after a period of inactivity the Nintendo Wii will automatically dim the television screen. If you are still worried, you can also manually adjust the brightness or turn off your television when Wii Transfer is not being used. See the Wikipedia page on phosphor burn-in for more information. Riverfold Software is not responsible for any damage to your television. (Our lawyers made us say that.)

No longer available

Wii Transfer is being discontinued and cannot be purchased. Existing customers can continue to use the app and will be fully supported. If you need to download the latest version, you can get version 2.7.2 here.

If you encounter problems with the app, please email support so that I can provide a work-around or consider a bug fix update to address it. Thanks!

Questions? Email support@riverfold.com

Lost your serial number?

Wii Updates on Twitter

You can now receive occasional updates on Wii Transfer and related Nintendo news by following "wii" on Twitter. View recent updates here.

Latest News

2/2/2010 — Important update for Mac OS X 10.4 users: Wii Transfer 2.7.1 is available now. It also includes a fix to saving the video quality preference.

1/19/2010 — Wii Transfer 2.7 is now available, with a new default conversion quality for smoother movie streaming, and more.

1/14/2010 — The next version of Wii Transfer is now in public beta testing. Check out this forum post for details.

9/2/2009 — The Internet Channel is now free from Nintendo. The next version of Wii Transfer will likely require the latest Internet Channel, for the best video streaming quality and performance.

4/2/2009 — A small update, version 2.6.3, is now out with fixes for movie conversion formats and Mii stability. There's also a new feature: right-click on a Mii to open it in the external site MyAvatarEditor.com.

2/11/2009 — Wii Transfer 2.6.2 has been released. This bug fix update includes dozens of improvements to Miis, movie file formats, picture slideshows, preferences, and more.

12/8/2008 — The next bug fix update to Wii Transfer is in beta testing. If you've experienced any problems with the released version, such as errors copying Miis, head over to the forums to try the new version. Thanks for your support!

10/30/2008 — Happy Halloween! A new update to Wii Transfer is coming soon, but why not have a little fun for the weekend? Use discount code PUMPKIN for 20% off.

9/2/2008 — The movie streaming settings have been completely overhauled for better playback performance, plus Mii fixes in version 2.6.1.

8/12/2008 — Wii Transfer 2.6 is out with brand-new Mii support and dozens of major improvements.

5/5/2008 — The next version of Wii Transfer is in beta testing. Get more information in the new forums. Update: Beta testing is over! Thanks everyone.

12/20/2007 — MacSanta is back! Use coupon code MACSANTA07 to save 20% today, and 10% for the rest of the month. Happy holidays!

12/4/2007 — We are giving away a Nintendo Wii! See the Holiday Wii Giveaway page for details.

10/31/2007 — Version 2.5.2 is out with several important improvements and fixes, including fixed UI glitches on Leopard. See the release notes for a full list of changes. Happy Halloween!

9/20/2007 — The most significant Wii Transfer release to date, version 2.5 is now out with movie streaming, bookmark sharing, picture background music, better Wii remote navigation, and more. The price is also getting a small bump to $19, with free upgrades for all registered users.

7/28/2007 — Wii Transfer 2.3.2 is ready with over a dozen bug fixes and minor improvements, including a new "Bubbles" transition for picture sharing. See the release notes for a full list of changes.

6/27/2007 — A bug fix update (2.3.1) is ready for all Wii Transfer customers, especially recommended if you are taking advantage of the AAC support in version 2.3.

6/19/2007 — Wii Transfer 2.3 is now available, with support for unprotected AAC files (including iTunes Plus tracks), better use of the Wii remote buttons, an updated Wii music playback interface, and more.

Developer Weblog

My name is Manton Reece and I wrote Wii Transfer. I occasionally blog about Wii Transfer and other topics at manton.org.