The K-Lite Codec Pack is a popular codec pack, and it includes a number of external video converters. You might want to download this for special purposes such as converting subtitles from one format to another so that they appear in the correct language when imported into Windows Movie Maker.

But if your converter doesn’t support the file type you’re trying to import then you’ll need to use an external converter.Įxternal converter: If your movie editing software doesn’t support a particular file type, or if your video editing software uses an internal converter and it failed then you can use another utility such as VLC Media player or FFmpeg. These converters will often include audio converters too, so you could use them to convert videos for other applications such as iPod. If your video editor is one of these ‘all in one’ types then they come with their own set of codecs included which may or may not support various formats, depending on how new your version is and what formats it supports. Codecs only work on an operating system-by-operating system basis, so you can’t open up a Windows Movie Maker file directly on Linux or vice versa. This means that the video is imported with no loss in quality, but there are some downsides to this. If your video editing software uses its own internal file converter then you can skip all that and just go straight for importing!ĭirect import: Video editing software usually includes its own built in codecs. Convert, import into WMM, then export back out again with the same codecs. In this case, you would probably want to install it first before doing anything else. Either way, your options may vary depending on what type of media you’re trying to import.įile Converter: These are installed as part of some video editing packages as a stand alone application or as an all in one codec package such as the K-Lite Codec Package. File converters usually come packaged with video editing software – Windows Movie Maker is no exception. Video editing software usually uses two methods for importing videos: direct imports with their own codecs built-in, and the use of a file converter.

That means that if your computer is too slow it might not play those formats smoothly. They tend to be more efficient than older codecs, so you can pack more high-quality video into a certain file size – but they require more computing power and time to compress and uncompress them than, say, MPEG-2** or DV***. The most popular video codecs, such as MPEG-4 and H.264/AVC*, are also the more complicated ones.

Download avi codec windows movie maker