Editing Windows Movie Maker (section)

===Importing footage===
When importing footage into the program, a user can either choose to ''Capture Video'' (from camera, scanner or other device) or ''Import into Collections'' to import existing video files into the user's collections. The accepted formats for import are [[Windows Media Video|.WMV]]/[[Advanced Systems Format|.ASF]], [[MPEG-1|.MPG (MPEG-1)]], [[DV (video format)#Application software support|.AVI (DV-AVI)]], [[Windows Media Audio|.WMA]], .[[WAV]], and [[MPEG-1 Layer 3|.MP3]]. Additionally, the Windows Vista Home Premium and Ultimate editions of Movie Maker support importing [[MPEG-2]] [[Program stream]]s and [[DVR-MS]] formats.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blogs.msdn.com/pix/archive/2007/03/21/movie-maker-vista-file-format-support.aspx|title=Movie Maker Vista File Format Support|access-date=June 15, 2016}}</ref> Importing of other container formats such as [[MPEG-4 Part 14|MP4]]/[[3GP]], [[Flash Video|FLV]] and [[.mov|MOV]], and [[Advanced Audio Coding|AAC]] are also supported if the necessary codecs are installed and the system is running Windows 7 or later.<ref>{{cite web|title=Windows Movie Maker FAQ (File Types)|url=http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-live/movie-maker-file-types-faq|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324014142/http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-live/movie-maker-file-types-faq|archive-date=March 24, 2012|access-date=July 10, 2014}}</ref>

In the  XP version, import and real-time capture of video from an analog source such as a VCR, tape-based analog camcorder or webcam is possible. This feature is based on [[Windows Image Acquisition]]. Video support in Windows Image Acquisition was removed in Windows Vista, as a result importing analog footage in Windows Movie Maker is no longer possible.<ref>{{cite web|title=Problems importing files into Windows Movie Maker|url=http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Problems-importing-files-into-Windows-Movie-Maker|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100721114433/http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Problems-importing-files-into-Windows-Movie-Maker|archive-date=July 21, 2010|access-date=June 15, 2016}}</ref>

When importing from a DV tape, if the "Make Clips on Completion" option is selected, Windows Movie Maker automatically flags the commencement of each scene, so that the tape appears on the editing screen as a collection of short clips, rather than one long recording. That is, at each point where the "Record" button was pressed, a new "clip" is generated, although the actual recording on the hard drive is still one continuous file. This feature is also offered after importing files already on the hard drive. In the Windows Vista version, the "Make clips on completion" option has been removed — the clips are now automatically created during the capture process.

The efficiency of the importing and editing process is heavily dependent on the amount of file fragmentation of the hard disk. The most reliable results can be obtained by adding an extra hard disk dedicated for [[scratch space]], and regularly re-formatting/defragmenting it, rather than simply deleting the files at the end of the project. Fragmented AVI files result in jerky playback on the editing screen, and make the final rendering process much longer.

Although it is possible to import digital video from cameras through the USB interface, most older cameras only support [[Universal Serial Bus|USB]] version 1 and the results tend to be poor — "sub [[Video Home System|VHS]]" — quality. Newer cameras using USB 2.0 give much better results. A [[FireWire]] interface camera will allow recording and playback of images identical in quality to the original recordings if the video is imported and subsequently saved as DV [[Audio Video Interleave|AVI]] files, although this consumes disk space at about 1 gigabyte every five minutes (12&nbsp;GB/Hr). Alternatively, most DV cameras allow the final AVI file to be recorded back onto the camera tape for high quality playback. Some standalone DVD recorders will also directly accept DV inputs from video cameras and computers.