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Intuitive free video editor for beginners with stabilization, music integration, and basic professional-looking results

Intuitive free video editor for beginners with stabilization, music integration, and basic professional-looking results

Vote (1,597 votes)

Program license Free

Developer Microsoft

Version 16.4.3522.110

Works under Windows

Vote

(1,597 votes)

Developer

Microsoft

Works under

Windows

Program license

Free

Version

16.4.3522.110

Pros

  • Highly intuitive video and graphical interface for easy navigation and video editing
  • Ideal for users new to video creation
  • Stabilization to smooth out video viewing

Cons

  • Does not have many advanced features

Windows Movie Maker 2012 is a movie-making software for people new to video creation. Originally part of the 2012 Windows Essentials package, the software is not a very complex editor and is easy to operate. Like any other editor of its kind, it displays a timeline of your video with all the edits that you’ve applied to it Standard features such as music integration along with drag-and-drop functionality are available in the software. The music integration is nice, as the software is partnered with vendors such as the Vimeo Music Store and AudioMicro. There is a wave form below the timeline of the video clip lets you see how the audio is distributed throughout the entirety of the video, allowing you to boost the volume of certain sections or mute them entirely.

One special feature that is remarkable for this piece of free software is the stabilization feature. If you’re a heavy smartphone or GoPro user, this is nice to have, as Movie Maker 2012 can help stabilize shaky video clips and smooth them out for a better watching experience. Smartphones don’t come with this, as you would need a gimbal-like armature to straighten your camera; money that could be saved and better spent elsewhere. On top of that, you can apply whatever edits you made to your timeline by moving and trimming your clips while personalizing your content however you see fit. Simple additions such as screen credits and captioning allow you to create professional-looking videos that are of cinematic quality.

The software is highly intuitive. Even if people are not familiar with the know-how on editing photos or video content in Windows Movie Maker, they will be able to navigate through the program because of the user-friendly nature of Windows applications in general. You’ll be able to easily identify which tools are what inside the program without much difficulty.

Files from Windows Movie Maker utilizes hardware acceleration, which helps speed up the encoding and exporting process of your videos. Output for all videos are generated with h.264 as the standard.

If you’re looking for a simple video editor where you can make professional clips without too much difficulty, Windows Movie Maker helps get the job done right.

Pros

  • Highly intuitive video and graphical interface for easy navigation and video editing
  • Ideal for users new to video creation
  • Stabilization to smooth out video viewing

Cons

  • Does not have many advanced features

Pros

  • easy to use interface, especially for current Windows users
  • the video stabilization feature
  • great for video editing novices who want to learn
  • timeline view allows for native and intuitive editing.

Cons

  • not very robust for more advanced video editors
  • longer videos take more time to export

Windows Movie Maker 2012 is a great tool for video editing novices who want to develop an understanding of how to make a short video. The 2012 edition of this software is completely free. It has an easy-to-use interface that allows for users to visually see a timeline of their video as they edit it, drag and drop media, and easily search for new music to overlay. Once in the timeline, users can trim, move, edit, and completely personalize their content in a natural and native way.

There are many different filters and effects that users can apply to their pictures and videos to make them fit the mood of the piece. These can be chosen individually for each slide or can be applied to all slides with just a click of a button. One of the newest additions in Windows Movie Maker 2012 is the video stabilization feature. The video stabilizer feature allows for users to take their shaky homemade movies and turn them into a more smooth and comfortable viewing experience.

Users can add captions, written titles, and even credits to the end of the video creating a more cinematic creation. In addition to adding written titles and captions over top of videos, users can also record themselves narrating their slides.

Users who are used to using other Windows software will love the ease and intuitiveness of Windows Movie Maker 2012. Even if users are not familiar with editing video and photos, things like copy, paste, fonts, and the editing tools have the same icons as in all of the Windows software. Users can easily identify the tools that they want and need, all the while trying out new things that they may not have known before. Windows Movie Maker 2012 also allows for easy sharing and downloading.

Pros

  • easy to use interface, especially for current Windows users
  • the video stabilization feature
  • great for video editing novices who want to learn
  • timeline view allows for native and intuitive editing.

Cons

  • not very robust for more advanced video editors
  • longer videos take more time to export

Pros

  • Comprehensive set of video editing features
  • Intuitive and simple interface
  • Quality video output in various formats

Cons

  • Slows down when editing large videos
  • Some features can be confusing to novices
  • Automation and over-simplification can be frustrating for advanced users

Windows Movie Maker 2012 is a free and fully featured program for creating your own videos from existing footage or animations. The program has become a favorite of content makers on video sharing sites like YouTube. One reason is that Windows Movie Maker 2012 is much simpler to use than most other programs of this type without sacrificing some powerful features. It is possible to make highly professional videos with the application if you learn how to use all the features and have a good sense of film production.

The heart of Windows Movie Maker 2012 is the timeline or onion embedded in the main editing screen. The timeline is a visual representation of all the clips in a video arranged in chronological order. You can drag and drop clips into the timeline to add a new piece of video. You have the option to delete sections of the timeline as well. Many different editing features can be used on the timeline such as speeding up or slowing down the video, zooming into a scene and rotating the image. All of these functions are simple to access and use from within the program. They require no special knowledge of filmmaking.

A new feature that was added to Windows Movie Maker 2012 is image stabilization. This is a powerful tool that can improve the appearance of nearly any moving video clip. Image stabilization will track certain objects in a piece of video. It will then adjust the individual frames of the video clip so that the tracked objects are aligned. The result is that you will see less shaking and jitter while the video plays. That allows viewers to have a better experience watching the video. Image stabilization can also be used to draw attention to objects that are moving through a scene by keeping them centered in the frame. Image stabilization is a tool that only professional video editors used to be able to access.

One of the more popular options in Windows Movie Maker 2012 has to do with filters. You can actually apply a number of filters to all or part of a video. The filters can dramatically change the way the video looks in certain areas. The filters can do things such as converting a scene to sepia tones, adding noise and blurring objects. Filters can give a video a professional polish if they are used correctly. The filters can also become a major distraction if they are used too much or in the wrong way. Applying filters in Windows Movie Maker 2012 is incredibly easy and intuitive.

Windows Movie Maker 2012 gives aspiring filmmakers a number of options when it comes to layering images, text and animations on top of existing footage. You can create title cards that are inserted in the beginning and end of a video. You can add text over images to help illustrate various points. You have the option of inserting images or animations into the video to play over footage. These are all options that were not fully realized in some of the older versions of Movie Maker. You even have access to the classic scene transitions in the application. Some of the transitions are better than others are although they do seem to make changing scenes in videos more interesting or entertaining.

Windows Movie Maker 2012 does have a few minor issues. One is that the program appears to over-simplify some aspects of creating a video. This can lead to problems such as not being able to cut scenes at precise points and being forced to fight against some automated features in the program to get good results. Another problem is that the program pushes too many bad filters and features at filmmakers. That can lead people to use transitions, filters and overlay text too heavily creating a video that does not appear professionally made. A final issue is that the program can slow down significantly if you are attempting to edit a long video.

Windows Movie Maker 2012 has become an iconic application for filmmakers for several reasons. One is that the free program can be used to make amazing videos that have nearly the same quality as professional productions. A less positive reason is that many people use the program to make shockingly amateurish films that use some of the most questionable features of the program to excess. Windows Movie Maker 2012 is still one of the best free video editing programs that you can download today.

Pros

  • Comprehensive set of video editing features
  • Intuitive and simple interface
  • Quality video output in various formats

Cons

  • Slows down when editing large videos
  • Some features can be confusing to novices
  • Automation and over-simplification can be frustrating for advanced users