How to Add Videos to a Presentation in Windows Movie Maker

Written by: Arnold Zafra • Edited by: Michele McDonough
Published Oct 27, 2008 • Related Guides: Windows | Hard Drive

After learning the basics of Windows Movie Maker, the next thing that you'd probably want to ask is: How do you add video files to your Windows Movie Maker video presentation? Here's a quick guide on how you can add videos to your WMM video presentation.

Adding Video from PC

It's a good thing if you already have a video residing on your PC's hard drive. All you need to do to add it to your WMM presentation is to use the "Import video" utility and, in a snap, your video would be imported to your current WMM Project Collection. WMM supports the following video file formats, so all you need to do to successfully upload videos to your project is to check whether your video is in .asf, .avi, .wmv, .MPEG1, mpeg, .mpg, .m1v or.mp2 form. If your have any of those file extensions, then you can add it to your WMM project.

After importing the video file into your Project Collection, you may drag and drop it off the Project Timeline, similar to the way you do it for image files. To trim the video, you simply shrink it by pulling the video container to the left side, or pulling the video container towards the left to trim from the beginning of the video file.

Adding Video from Capturing Devices

If you have just recorded a video file and you want to transfer it to your PC's hard drive, you can add it directly by using Windows Movie Maker. WMM supports video files coming from digital video (DV) or analog camera or VCR, a Web camera, or a TV tuner card. To do this task, all you have to do is follow the instructions of the WMM Capture Video Wizard. The normal procedure starts by selecting the type of capture device that you are using. Then you have to specify where you want your captured video to be saved. After this, you need to choose the video setting you want implemented on the video that you are capturing. These settings include: file type, bit rate, display size, fps, video format and video file size. After specifying your video setting, you can now start the capture process.

After capturing your video, you can now add it to the current project collection, drag and drop it off the project timeline, and edit/trim the video to suit your specifications.