Movie Maker - Converting MOV Files
Quick Time MOV files are common to both Windows and Apple computers. Most versions of Movie Maker can't use them as source files, so conversion is needed. If you're using Windows Live Movie Maker you can try to use them directly.
MOV files are often downloaded from the internet, and recorded on a digital camera with a video option.
PapaJohn's Products and Services
Converting Quick Time (MOV) Files
Options to convert MOV files to AVI files include:
• The Pazera Free MOV to AVI Converter 1.0 utility.
Testing on XP and Vista Home Basic systems showed conversions from MOV files to wmv7 encoded avi files were easy, quick and produced files that worked well in Movie Maker 2.1 and MM6.
• Expression Encoder 2... see the Expression > Expression Encoder page of this site.
The Encoder doesn't include a codec to play an MOV file. Installing iTunes with its bundled QuickTime Player will result in the Encoder working fine for this kind of conversion on XP or Vista. And the Express version of the Encoder, the one that'll continue on after the trial period is over, will continue to convert MOV files.
• Rad Video Tools to convert both the video and audio tracks into a single AVI file. You can also use it to extract the audio track from the MOV file into a WAV file for importing the sound track only.
In cases where a file is be more difficult to convert than usual I'll 'Bink' it first and then convert the 'Binked' file to the one I want.
Newsletter #22 was a tutorial about using Rad Video Tools to convert QuickTime MOV files to AVI.
One of the things not covered in the newsletter is the occasional need to force the frame rate of the conversion process to align the recorded MOV file's rate with the output .AVI file. For example, a Kodak DX7590 file recorded at 20 frames per second will need to be forced to that frame rate, using the video output setting.
Click on the image to read it.
• Xilisoft Video Converter Ultimate. See the Setup Movie Maker > Conversion Utilities page for more info.
I used it to successfully convert an HD720 MOV file from a Kodak Z1285 digital camera.
Selected Posts - Converting MOV Files
11/2/09 forum post... You might want to check out any software that came with your digital camera before trying to track down any other converters. I have a Canon Powershot SD780 that came with ZoomBrowser software that allows me to export the MOV files from the ZoomBrowser software as an AVI that will read into Movie Maker.
12/12/07 newsgroup post... You should really convert both audio and video from the MOV format to
something that WMM likes better than MOVs. Try Xilisoft Video Converter, it's probably going to be the best $35 you ever spent.
6/2/06 forum post... MOV Converter from http://www.xilisoft.com/mov-converter.html - $29 ... free trial
1/9/06 - Total Video Converter supports importing .MOV video format very well...
http://www.effectmatrix.com
11/7/05 - My camera also saves files as .mov (Nikon). I downloaded WinMPG Video
Convert and found it easy to convert to avi.
9/20/05... have a Kodak digital camera and use either Nero or Video Cleaner to
convert my MOVs to AVIs. Then they can be used in MM.
July 05 - Rehan - You have many options here.
2. You can repackage the files in to an AVI container without
recompression using MP4Cam2AVI. This works lightening fast:
http://mp4cam2avi.sourceforge.net/
3. You can just rename the file extension from MOV to MOV.AVI after
installing QuickTime Alternative
http://www.free-codecs.com/download/QuickTime_Alternative.htm
7/22/05 - I... use Video Cleaner Lite to convert my movs to avis. Then I can use them most anyway I want.
5/16/03 emails - Not sure if it works for all MOV files, but my Olympus c200 digital camera produces MOV files that, if I rename to AVI, import fine. This doesn't work with all MOV files. It depends on the internal format, as AVI and MOV are wrappers for a number of different formats. It's easy to try doing, before using software to do a conversion. When it was found that WMP9 could play the MOV (as it doesn't filter by extension as MM2 does), then just changing the extension might allow MM2 to use it. It does. If not, then onto conversion via something like Rad Video Tools.
5/12/03 - How can I convert a Quick Time .MOV file to an .AVI file? > Use Rad Video Tools - it can convert MOV files into AVI for use in Movie Maker (use the Microsoft Video 1 codec).
1. You can convert the files properly to AVI using QuickTIme Pro ($30)
or Rad Video Tools (freeware):
http://www.radgametools.com/bnkdown.htm
My favourite is no:3 but your milage may vary.