Video: See how to save your movie in different formats
Published: August 8, 2006
Home video cameras have been around for decades, and have made it easy to capture the most memorable moments of your life. Until recently, however, home movies haven't been that easy to share. Microsoft Windows XP and Windows Movie Maker make it fun and easy to share your movies, so your friends and family can watch them on their own computers or DVD players.
First, download your videos from your video camera, create your first movie in Movie Maker, and then polish it with Movie Maker's special features. Now you're ready to share your movie with friends and family.
If your friends are on the Internet, you can send your movie through e-mail or save it to a Web site. If you want to watch your movie on a TV, you can save it to a CD or DVD, and then watch your home movie on almost any standard DVD player. Naturally, you can also save your movie to your computer and watch it on your monitor.
See it in action
Watch the video Share Anywhere Easily to see how easy these features are to use. Watching the video requires that you have Windows Media Player.
Broadband: Watch the video now.
Dial-up: Download the video (instructions).
Do it yourself
Now that you've seen how easy it is to save movies with Movie Maker, read these articles for more detailed instructions on how to save your movie in different formats:
| • | Save your movie to a computer. For the best quality, save your movie for playback on your computer. Even if you don't want to gather around a computer to watch a video, it's great to have a copy of it on your computer because it can last as long as you have it on your computer. Decades from now, when today's DVDs and CDs are outdated, you'll still be able to play your movie using this file. |
| • | Save your movie to a CD. If your computer has a CD burner, you can save your movie to a blank CD to create a video CD. Video CDs can play in almost any DVD player, just like a DVD. The video quality isn’t as good as if your movie had been saved to a DVD, but most people find the quality acceptable. |
| • | Save your movie to a DVD. If your computer has a DVD burner and video DVD–burning software, you can save your movie to a blank DVD that you can watch in almost any DVD player. The video will be very high quality and will look great on your TV. Home-made DVDs make excellent gifts because the recipient doesn't need a computer to watch them. |
| • | Save your movie to e-mail. If you're like most people, you regularly send e-mail messages back and forth with your friends and family. With Movie Maker, you can attach a home movie to an e-mail message just like you'd attach a digital picture. The quality isn't the best, because the video has to be very small to be an e-mail attachment. The convenience of e-mail can’t be beat, though. |
| • | Save your movie to the Web. If you want to share your movie with friends, but you don't want to give up quality by shrinking it down to the size of an e-mail attachment, you can save your movie to a Web site. Then you can e-mail or instant message your friends a link to the high-quality file. The Save Movie Wizard in Movie Maker makes it easy to save your movie to a Web site—even if you've never created a Web page before. |
Your friends and family will love seeing your movies. When you hear how thrilled they are, you'll be more likely to pick up your video camera in the future. Sharing home movies can bring your family and friends closer to you, and the movies will bring a smile to your face years from now when you look back on your memories.
