mpeg to wmv,asf?

Kindly let know which is the best software to convert mpeg or avi files into less bytes wmv or asf format.I am presently using videopak to convert mpeg to wmv.I am not able to get an effective contrast (perhaps the setting)? .Though a 10 mb mpeg file could come down to 5 mb the picture quality is poor!On the contrast I find certain wmv or asf files which have good quality,contrast and their size is also small.

Windows Media Encoder 7.1
http://download.microsoft.com/download/winmediatech40/wmenc71/7.1/W98NT42KMe/EN-US/wmencoder71.exe

Thnks for the reply dude!Pl explain in detail about the coding process (its range,utility etc)since you have used it.Let us know if there are any other alternate products.

run the wizard, and you will see all the presets and you can even customize profiles.

I should warn you that when you convert to wmv/asf you’re converting to a proprietary format, and should you wish to reconvert it back to an open format again later, it’ll be very difficult to do.
The latest version of windows media encoder is 9
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=5691ba02-e496-465a-bba9-b2f1182cdf24&DisplayLang=en
version 9 should have options to encode using the version 8 codec (and maybe version 7 too, not sure)
The link in an earlier reply was for version 7 of windows media encoder
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=e0ab51dc-e509-4bc2-ae47-507856f9ddc3&displaylang=en
If you want to use some of the older tools to make asf before the wmv encoder came out you can pick one of these
Windows Media Tools - allows you to encode using Microsoft MPEG-4 versions 1, 2, or 3 (of course, asf container only) - google for wmtools.exe
NetShow Tools - allows you to encode using Microsoft MPEG-4 v1 or 2, Duck TrueMotion, Microsoft H.263 (aka M263), or VDOWave. google for nstools.exe

WinAVI Video Converter http://www.winavi.com/video-converter.htm

Thanks for all the replies folks!Is the free version of winavi video converter time bound,and feature wise inferior?Let us also discuss the quality of output into various formats.Is conversion of mpeg into wmv really that good? On the other hand “ASF” files seems to be better and true!I dont know whether such files are directly ripped from DVD or conversions from mpg?

Try Advanced X Video Converter. http://www.aoamedia.com/videoconverter.htm