While reading the Wikipedia entry on Windows Movie Maker (WMM), learned that one can use Windows Media Encoder (WME) to export video format profiles that can be used by WMM to save a resolution and video/audio bit rate you wish. After far as I can as ascertain, the video codec still needs to be Windows Media Video (WMV). But this is great news for those of us trying to optimize our video for the best viewing on YouTube.How to create a custom video profile from WME for usage in WMM:
- Open WME and create a Custom Session from the list of options
- Click on the Compression tab
- Click on the Edit... button in this tab
- In the menu that comes up, edit the name and audio and video codecs you desire. I use Windows Media Video 9 for video and Windows Media Audio 9.2 for audio both with CBR (Constant bit rate)
- Now in the same menu, click on the bit rate tab that right next the General tab on top of the same menu. It should say something like: 282 Kbps.
- Select the audio format and bit rate you desire from the drop down list
- Input the output video resolution, video bit rate and frame rate you desire. e.g. 1280x720 (720p), 1920x1080 (1080p) I recommend matching this to your source video resolution, bit and frame rate. The help button at the bottom brings up an good explanation of each value you can edit. I recommend using a sharper setting of 100 for maximum quality.
- Once you have the settings you want, click back to the General tab and then click on the Export... button
- Supply a file name for your new video profile and save this file to: C:\Program Files\Movie Maker\Shared\Profiles (note: that you might have to create a Profiles folder before saving) For 64-bit Windows versions, the path will be C:\Program Files (x86)\Movie Maker\Shared\Profiles
- Open Windows Movie Maker, and go to the 'Tools' menu and select 'Options'. In the popup options menu that then comes up, select the 'Advanced' tab. If you are exporting wide screen 16:9 videos, select the 16:9 option on this screen. Click OK to save.
- Now load or create a WMM project. Import your videos and edit them appropriately. When you publish your Movie (Ctrl+P), select the This Computer option, set your movie's file name and on the final Publish menu, select 'more options'. Your custom profile named by you should be selectable from the bottom of this list. Now publish your movie with your custom settings!
I only wish I learned of this functionality sooner!
Also see my tutorial on how to use Windows Media Encoder to maximize the quality of your video record with your webcam: HERE
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8 comments:
This looks like great info for YouTubers, thanks!
"Kenny"
YouTubeStars.com
TubeRavers.org
Would following these steps improve the quality and remove some graininess? I am having trouble getting a high-quality picture from WMM to YouTube. It looks fine in WMM but when uploaded to YouTube looks terrible. Will following your recommendations help with this?
Thanks.
Laura-Jane, It might. It also depends the quality/bit rate of your original source video you are using.
Another thing you can try is to export your video to 1280x720 for 16:9 wide screen aspect ratio video or 960x720 for standard 4:3 video at a bit rate of over 2.5 Mbps. This will likely give you an HD option.
Amazing how you could figure this out. Thank you so much! I was very annoyed by the fact that the default video output resolution options on WMM 6 is in 5:4 format instead of the standard 4:3, leaving black (actually grey) borders on top and bottom. You saved my day!
Merry Christmas!
this is great, 5stars to you!
you just shown me the holy grail of home video making :)
Am trying to make videos for a company
Created this profile, put it in the right file (which already existed), and it didn't show up in the frame rate choices in WMM, any ideas?
If you copied the profile file into proper folder, you have restart WMM before it'll show up. If it still doesn't show up in your list, double check that you copied the file to correct directory.
I found that mine did not show up until I unchecked 'Use Same Size as Original', or something like that on "edit options" page. Then the profile showed up. Thanks for the help with this.
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