How to Compress any Video File with Windows Movie Maker

Though there are many software’s and tools available to compress videos and reduce the file size but if you are using Windows XP, then you can compress your video using Windows Movie maker. You don’t need to install any third party software to compress the videos.

Yes, there are other video compression software available but i will stick with Windows Movie maker for two simple reasons:

• It comes by default with Windows. I do not need to install a third party software
• I can save the videos in high quality formats and choose from a wide variety of compression modes. (also read: How to insert text in a video using Windows movie maker)

How to compress a Video file with Windows Movie Maker

1. Start Windows movie maker from start menu and then click on “Import video”.

2. The video will be distributed into several clips. Select all the clips and drag them in the “Time line” as shown below

3. Here you can add transitions in the video file. When you are done, go to File > Save Movie File.

4. Select the location where you want to save the video.

5. Click “Next” and you will arrive in “Movie Setting” Page. Here, check the box named “other settings”. Select “Video for broadband (340 kbps)”. Alternatively, you can also chose the other settings from the list.

6. Click Next to start the compression of the video file. It will take some time to compress and save the video file.

After completion of the task you can easily watch the difference in the size before and after compression. I have seen almost 80% decrease in file size after video compression in Windows movie maker. (For example: a 27 Mb file was reduced to only 7mb)

What’s your choice? Let me know through a comment.