Windows Movie Maker is one of the most loved applications by users. Even though Microsoft decided to drop its support and remove official downloads a long time ago, this program allows users to edit videos very easily and very quickly. Any user, even without knowledge, can make basic video montages without having to complicate using professional programs. And all, also, completely Free Video Editing Software No Watermark of charge.
Windows Movie Maker began its journey in 2000 when it was first released for Windows ME. Since then, it has evolved, gaining many followers and advocates in the XP era and skyrocketing in popularity with Windows 7. Unfortunately, Microsoft discontinued its video editor after the release of version 2012, and today, it is very difficult to find. In the net.
Windows Movie Maker Review
This program has a very intuitive and easy-to-use interface, which is why it has become a very popular program for both beginners and more experienced users over time. Windows Movie Maker allows us to work with videos, with photos, and with images. Also, it has a large number of effects, transitions, and the possibility of adding texts, titles, and credits.
Main features
Although it is far from being a professional video editor like Adobe Premiere, Movie Maker has a lot of functions and features that are not normally seen in other similar free editors.
One of the surprising features to find in an editor of these characteristics is that it has a video stabilization system with preview, which allows us to reduce vibrations when recording and see the final result at all times.
This video editor also has a large number of audio editing functions. Besides allowing you to record audio directly from the program, it allows you to edit the audio, give emphasis, and even normalize it and reduce the audio—an all-in-one for maximum control over audio recordings and narration.
We also find great features when it comes to working with video. This program is compatible with a large number of different formats and codecs, allows you to add text with borders, and even uses complete videos as audio so that you do not have to resort to third-party programs to separate the channels.
Finally, a function that has saved our lives on more than one occasion is that it has an auto-save system for projects. If the program crashes or closes unexpectedly, we can recover the work.
And thanks to the native hardware acceleration, this video editor’s performance is more than outstanding, even on very long projects.
Supported formats
Windows Movie Maker allows us to capture video directly from the program from different sources (camera, scanner, capturers, etc.). And, in addition, it allows us to import any video and audio clip into the program in the following formats:
- WMV / ASF
- MPG (MPEG-1)
- AVI (DV-AVI)
- WMA
- Wav
- MP3
- MPEG-2
- DVR-MS
- MP4
- 3GP
- FLV
- MOV
- AAC
The old versions of Movie Maker only allowed to export the videos to Windows Media Video (WMV) and AVI format. However, the program’s latest versions allowed video clips to be saved in the H.264 codec in MP4.
In addition, it has a large number of profiles to save videos prepared for iPhone, Android, and other platforms. Even to make them ready for social networks and platforms like YouTube.
Advantages and disadvantages
Among the main advantages of this program, we can highlight that being Microsoft, and it has been installed by default together with Windows for a long time. Also, its interface is one of the clearest and simplest so that any user, even if they have never edited video before, can use it with a minimal learning curve. This program has everything that any non-professional user may need to edit their videos.
But it is not perfect. And among its main drawbacks, we must highlight that. Currently, it is software that is not supported. Therefore, we will not receive security updates or fix bugs in the program. It should also be noted that it leaves a lot to be desired for professional use, both in terms of functions (which are limited) and performance (it crashes often).
Minimum requirements
Although this is a fairly straightforward video editor, editing video is a resource-intensive task. Therefore, if we want Movie Maker to work more or less well, we will have to meet, at least, the following requirements:
- Operating System: Windows (from 7 to 10).
- RAM: 1GB (2GB for HD video editing).
- Processor: 1 core @ 2.4 GHz (dual core recommended for high definition video).
- Graphics card: compatible with DirectX 10 and Pixel Shader 2.0.
In addition, if we are going to export our videos directly to social networks, or we are going to access a network resource, we will need an Internet connection.
Download and install Windows Movie Maker on Windows 10
The main problem we find when trying to use this video editor is that, since Microsoft stopped updating it, there is no way to find it. Furthermore, many web pages try to deceive us by offering us similar paid, fake publishers, and even malware.
The last revision of Windows Movie Maker released by Microsoft dates from February 2018. And to find it, the best reliable site we can find is Archive.org. In the following link, we can find the installer for Microsoft Windows Live Essentials 2012. This installer includes a series of Microsoft applications, among which we highlight the Movie Maker video editor.
We download the executable from this page (it occupies 131 megabytes) and, when we have it on our PC, we can start the installation by executing the file «we setup-all.exe» that we have just downloaded. During the installation, we must choose the option to “choose the programs we want to install,” as shown in the screenshot, and choose only ” Photo Gallery and Movie Maker. ”
The Windows Movie Maker installation process will begin. But, at a certain point, an error will appear. This is due to one of the Live Essentials’ components, and we have nothing to worry about.
We close the error window, and that’s it. Windows Movie Maker will be installed on our computer. We will only have to look for it in the start menu, and we can start using it. Of course, when we open it for the first time, we will have to accept the terms of use of Live Essentials to start using it.
Although Microsoft has wanted to turn its back on its excellent video editor, Windows Movie Maker still works on Windows 10.
