WOTREPLAY File Documentation

Summary

A WOTREPLAY (World of Tanks Replay) file is a recorded battle from Wargaming’s World of Tanks, and it is not a video. It stores the game’s recorded inputs and state (movements, shots, positions) that the client re-simulates to play the battle back, so it opens only inside World of Tanks. Its MIME type is application/octet-stream. Drop the file in the game’s replays folder and run it from the in-game Replays menu; a replay only works on the game version it was recorded on. To make a shareable video, screen-record the replay with OBS.

Technical details

FeatureValue
Full nameWorld of Tanks Replay
File extension.wotreplay
MIME typeapplication/octet-stream
Format typeProprietary binary replay (recorded game data, not video)
DeveloperWargaming.net
Introduced2011 (World of Tanks replay system)
Contains video?No — recorded inputs/state the client re-simulates
StructureBinary magic + JSON metadata block(s) + encoded packet stream
Metadata formatJSON (human-readable: map, players, vehicles, version)
Packet streamProprietary, encoded/encrypted game events
Typical sizeA few MB per full battle
Version-locked?Yes — plays only on the patch it was recorded on
Opened byWorld of Tanks client only
Saved inThe replays folder of the game install
To make a videoScreen-record playback (OBS, ShadowPlay); no converter
Open standardNo — proprietary
Related extensions.rofl (League of Legends replay), .dav
Structure at a glance

A .wotreplay begins with a small binary magic and a count field, followed by one or two JSON metadata blocks (each preceded by a 32-bit little-endian length). The first JSON block describes the battle before it starts (map, players, vehicles, game version); a second, written after the battle, holds the result and per-player stats. After the JSON comes the encoded binary packet stream of game events that the client replays. The leading magic bytes vary by client build, so treat them as indicative rather than a fixed signature; the JSON is what third-party stats sites parse.

What is a WOTREPLAY file?

A WOTREPLAY file is a World of Tanks Replay, a recording of a single battle produced by Wargaming’s World of Tanks. The replay system was added to the game in 2011. The single most important fact about the format is that it is not a video: it contains no frames, no footage and no encoded picture. It stores the recorded stream of game events — where each vehicle was, how it moved, when shots were fired, what hit what and the timing of it all — which the World of Tanks engine re-simulates to reproduce the battle exactly as it happened.

That design is why replays are tiny (a few megabytes for a whole battle, versus hundreds of megabytes for a video of the same length) and why they only play inside the game client. It also explains the format’s biggest limitation and the most common conversion request, both covered below.

Two layers: readable JSON metadata and an encoded packet stream

A .wotreplay is built from two very different parts. It opens with a small binary magic and a count, then one or two JSON metadata blocks, each prefixed by a 32-bit little-endian length so a reader can find where each block ends. The first JSON block is written when the battle begins and describes the setup: the map, the arena, the list of players and their vehicles, and the exact game version. If the client writes a second JSON block after the battle, it holds the outcome and per-player statistics (damage dealt, kills, credits and so on).

After the JSON comes the packet stream: the proprietary, encoded sequence of game events that the client feeds back through its simulation to replay the match. This part is not human-readable and is not publicly documented. The split matters in practice, because the JSON is plain text and can be parsed by anyone, while the packet stream can only be interpreted by the game engine.

Why replay sites can show stats but cannot play the battle

Because the metadata is JSON, community sites and tools such as wotreplays.eu can open a .wotreplay, read the leading blocks and list the map, vehicles, players and results without ever decoding the packet stream. That is how a replay browser shows you a battle’s summary and lets you sort by tank or damage. What those sites cannot do is show the battle, because reconstructing the actual gameplay requires re-simulating the packet stream inside the World of Tanks engine. To watch a replay you still need the game installed.

Version locking: why old replays stop working

The re-simulation design ties a replay tightly to the game build it was recorded on. When World of Tanks updates and changes vehicle stats, maps, physics or balance, the recorded event stream no longer matches the current engine, and the client can no longer reproduce the battle. An old .wotreplay that refuses to open after a patch is therefore behaving normally — it is version-locked, not corrupted. The game version stored in the JSON header is what the client checks against; if it does not match closely enough, playback is refused. This is the same pattern used by other input-recording game replays such as League of Legends’ .rofl files.

Playing a replay and where the files live

You get WOTREPLAY files by enabling replay recording in the game’s settings; battles are then saved automatically. The files live in the replays subfolder of the World of Tanks installation. To watch one, place the .wotreplay in that folder, launch World of Tanks, open the Replays menu and select it, or double-click the file if the game registered the association during install. The replay must match your current game version. You can watch your own battles, download someone else’s replay from a replay site, or study an opponent’s play, all through the same in-game menu.

Why there is no WOTREPLAY-to-MP4 converter

The most requested conversion is .wotreplay to MP4, and it is genuinely impossible. A converter turns one encoding of the same content into another, but a replay contains no video frames to transcode — only recorded game data. There is nothing for a converter to read out as pixels. Any website promising a direct WOTREPLAY-to-MP4 conversion is misleading, and such downloads are a common vector for bundled adware.

The correct way to get a shareable clip is to record the replay as it plays: open the replay in World of Tanks and capture the game window with a screen recorder such as OBS Studio, NVIDIA ShadowPlay or the Windows Game Bar, encoding to MP4. That produces a real video you can upload to YouTube or send to someone without the game. In effect you are filming the simulation rather than converting the file, which is the only path that exists.

References