Windows Live Movie Maker logo

Windows Live Movie Maker

By Microsoft Free Editors' Rating

Download.com has removed the direct-download link and offers this page for informational purposes only.

Windows Essentials 2012 suite (and Windows Live Movie Maker) reached end of support on January 10, 2017. It is no longer available for download. Download.com offers no downloadable file and presents data for informational purposes only.

Editors' Review

shelbybrown Aug 19, 2009

Functional freeware that's aimed squarely at the casual consumer crowd, Microsoft's Windows Live Movie Maker easily turns photos and video clips into slideshows and movies on Vista and Windows 7. However, its toolset and interface lack a certain sophistication that users of all levels would appreciate. The app comes bundled into the bulky Windows Live Essentials suite of apps; to separate it out, you'll need to uncheck the other boxes before installing.

Like Microsoft Office 2007 apps, Windows Live Movie Maker tucks its actions and menus into a visual ribbon. You'll get started dragging and dropping video clips and photos into the storyboard. You could finish a minute later with a click of the AutoMovie button, which populates the movie with a title, transitions, and pan and zoom effects. It'll also prompt you to add a song from the hard drive. Automating movies is handy, especially for time-restricted users. After all, you can always tweak later with the help of the menu tabs.

The intermediate photo-, audio-, and video-editing features are sparse--you can split and trim videos, fade songs in and out, and pick a start and end point for audio and video. The publishing and sharing options are better thought out. Windows Live Movie Maker can e-mail a finished video, burn it to DVD, or upload it to YouTube or Facebook (with a plug-in). Videos also save in HD format for your TV (standard or wide screen), and can convert to a mobile-phone-friendly format.

All in all, Windows Live Movie Maker is decent freeware that lives up to its promise of making movies fast. You won't find many advanced tools, but more ambitious types can still create interesting videos and slideshows.

Full Specifications

What's new in version 2012

  • Support for recording voiceovers was restored, along with an audio mixer and integration with several free stock music services.
  • H.264/MP4 is now the default export format, replacing Windows Media Video.
  • Support for uploading to Vimeo was added.
  • Hardware accelerated video stabilization was added for Windows 8 users.

General

Release October 4, 2013
Date Added October 4, 2013
Version 2012

Operating Systems

Operating Systems Windows, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7
Additional Requirements DirectX 9

Popularity

Total Downloads 3,531,744
Downloads Last Week 0
Report Software

Related Software

Shotcut logo

Shotcut

Free
Shotcut
YouTube Movie Maker logo

YouTube Movie Maker

Free
YouTube Movie Maker

Wondershare Filmora

Free to try
Wondershare Filmora

VideoPad Masters

Free to try
VideoPad Masters

User Reviews

2.2/5
137 User Votes
5 Star
4 Star
3 Star
2 Star
1 Star

Developer's Description

Windows Live Movie Maker is the one-minute way to turn photos and videos into great-looking movies that are easy to share -- for free. Windows Live Movie Maker is a new offering that allows you to easily turn photos and videos into great-looking movies to share with family and friends across a TV, PC or mobile device using the most popular camera types and file formats on the market today.

Supported image and video files include: Windows Media Video (WMV), Windows Media, DV-AVI, Microsoft Recorded TV Show, 3GP, 3GPP, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, Motion JPEG, JPEG, TIFF, GIF, Bitmap, PNG. Windows 7 users can also view QuickTime MOV and QT files, AVCHD, and MPEG-4 video formats.

Promo image for CNET Shopping

Get the best price on everything

Shop your favorite products and we’ll find the best deal with a single click. Designed to make shopping easier.