Easily turn photos and videos into polished movies with intuitive drag-and-drop editing
Easily turn photos and videos into polished movies with intuitive drag-and-drop editing
Vote (4,828 votes)
Program license Free
Developer Microsoft Corporation
Version 2012 16.4.3505.912
Works under Windows
Vote
(4,828 votes)
Developer
Microsoft Corporation
Works under
Windows
Program license
Free
Version
2012 16.4.3505.912
Pros
- Easy-to-use interface, especially for those with a background in Windows
- The timeline is great for seeing an overview of the movie
- Fun and engaging tools that help everyone develop skills in video editing
- Great for exporting
Cons
- Limited features for more advanced users
- Slow exporting depending on the size of the movie
- May not work on newer computers
Windows Live Movie Maker is a great tool for those who are interested in the world of video. It is completely free, which makes it a complete must for everyone. The best part of the Windows Live Movie Maker is the easy-to-use and intuitive interface. This tool was designed with the beginner in mind and does not overwhelm users with too many technical options at the onset. In fact, if users have any familiarity at all with Windows software they will find many familiar features such as copy, cut, paste, font selection, and paragraph organization. Windows Live Movie Maker takes a project that seems daunting and impossible and breaks it down into easy and already-known steps. The interface is designed for comfort and confidence.
Everything is set up with a timeline view of the entire project from start to finish. This allows for users to easily add video and photos. They can also rearrange, shorten, or even completely delete parts of the video without any technical expertise. The timeline view is understandable to even the most novice video editor. Users can add text at the beginning and end of the video to make a title and credits as well as adding text at any point throughout. If there is a lag in between photos or videos, users can choose from a vast number of transitions to help move forward in the story progression.
When it is time to save, users can either choose to save the video directly to their computer, export it to a CD, or publish it on the internet. This part of the process might take a while depending on the size of the movie. Sharing new creations has never been easier.
Pros
- Easy-to-use interface, especially for those with a background in Windows
- The timeline is great for seeing an overview of the movie
- Fun and engaging tools that help everyone develop skills in video editing
- Great for exporting
Cons
- Limited features for more advanced users
- Slow exporting depending on the size of the movie
- May not work on newer computers
Windows Live Movie Maker is a quick and easy way to turn your videos and photos into a movie that gives you the capability to share with anyone you would like, at the low price of free.
As easy as dragging and dropping photos and video footage, you can create your movie using a storyboard style user interface.
History of Windows Live Movie Maker
Even though it is the successor to the Windows Movie Maker, Windows Live Movie Maker was developed as a bundled application for Windows 7, and is available to be downloaded for free.
What’s Included
- The ability to record voiceovers
- Audio mixer
- Several free stock music choices
- The defaults export format is H.264/MP4
- Vimeo upload compatible
- Windows 8 users can use the hardware accelerated video stabilization
- AutoMovie Button – automatically adds in titles, transitions, and effects once you drag and drop your files into place.
- User interface is split between a full-feature ribbon toolbar, a video preview pane, and a content pane.
Supported image and video files
- WMV (Windows Media Video)
- Windows Media
- DV-AVI
- 3GP
- 3PP
- MPEG-1
- MPEG-2
- Motion JPEG
- JPEG
- GIF
- TIFF
- Bitmap
- PNG
- Microsoft Recorded TV Show
If you are a Windows 7 user you can also use:
- QuickTime MOV and QT files
- MPEG-4 video formats
- AVCHD
Pros
- When choosing DVD from the “sharing” option, the WMV files is automatically sent over to the Windows DVD Maker.
- Reformatted timeline function
- Interface can be resized to give more viewing to the window preview or the timeline
- Single click option application
- Separate brightness controls
- Simple controls for general features
- Trimming clips has its own window rather than having to work with truncating them on the timeline.
- Mobile-phone friendly formats available
- Standard or Wide-Screen HD formats available
Cons
- System often fails to recognize AVCHD clips
- System sometimes fails to import footage straight from cameras
- Always exports at 30fps
- Always exports in WMV
- Does not function when developing European video cameras, which use PAL and 25fps
- Does not use multi-tracked timelines for editing
- Controls may be bunched up at the top of the screen in the toolbar ribbon, depending on the size of your screen.
- In order to see all the effects, users have to scroll through many pages.
- Have to add plugins to upload to YouTube or Facebook
Concluding Thoughts
As free software Windows Live Movie Maker is created for a user that does the casual movie creation. Its basic function allows users to turn their photos and video clips into a movie or slideshow and export them in various formats for sharing. However, when installing the software, be sure to notice that it comes in a suite package, which means there are a lot of extra apps added into the program bundle, requiring you to uncheck a variety of boxes to keep the applications from being downloaded along with Windows Live Movie Maker.
If you are into making quick movies easily, then Windows Live Movie Maker hits its mark every time. There are not a lot of advanced tools and techniques for this software, but even the most basic technology users can figure out this software and use it easily. The AutoMovie button is handy if you are pressed for time when making the movie and do not really care what effects, transitions, and music are added to your film.
In comparison to previous editions, Windows Live Movie Maker has better sharing options, even allowing for your movie to be e-mailed.
