Movie Maker NOT Saving Video

[Ari012]

I imported a mp4 file into Movie Maker (2012) running on Win7. The file includes video and sound. After editing it a bit, the playback in Movie Maker is still perfect. However, when I save it using "Save Movie" in a any of the possible methods, I lose the video (black screen) while the sound is preserved perfectly. And the resulting saved mp4 file is significantly smaller (less than 10% of the original file size). What could be the cause of losing the video part of the movie?
Thanks,
Ari012

 

[Joeteoh99]

The problem is Moviemaker doesn't support MP4 files so the videos will not work.

http/answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_vista-pictures/can-i-import-mpeg-4-files-into-windows-movie-maker/748ea68e-bdf7-4751-84e8-0c3108011b5e

 

[Joeteoh99]

The problem is Moviemaker doesn't support MP4 files so the videos will not work.

http/answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_vista-pictures/can-i-import-mpeg-4-files-into-windows-movie-maker/748ea68e-bdf7-4751-84e8-0c3108011b5e

Can't see what you wrote.

 

[Ari012]

Actually Movie Maker was quite happy accepting my MP4 file. Are you sure you are not referring to Windows Movie Maker?

 

[Joeteoh99]

Actually Movie Maker was quite happy accepting my MP4 file. Are you sure you are not referring to Windows Movie Maker?

Yes I was referring to Windows Moviemaker. Which one are you using?

 

[Ari012]

I am using Movie Maker which is part of Windows Essentials. I downloaded the 2012 version which has a good editor and it does the job perfectly but i ended up with the saving problem.
Considering that i have mp4 files that I need editing (cutting and rotating 90 degrees), what would be a good solution?

 

[Joeteoh99]

Check this softwares.
http/www.techradar.com/au/news/software/applications/best-free-video-editing-software-9-top-programs-you-should-download-1136264

 

[kenrivers]

Are you able to play back the file before you bring it into Movie Maker 2012? I just tried an .mp4 video using the same version of Movie Maker that you are using. I didn't do any editing but did add a title and then exported for a HD display. The file saved with audio and video intact. The file size was smaller than the original (100 MB vs. 157 MB). What is the source of the file you are trying to edit?

 

[Ari012]

Hi
Thanks for addressing my problem.
I used my android smartphone to record the movie including sound. This ended up in a mp4 file which I transferred to my laptop running Win7. This file plays perfectly on the laptop using virtually any of the known player softwares. When I import it into Movie Maker it plays it perferctly. So there is nothing wrong with the original movie. But when I get Movie Maker to save the movie, even without any editing, the saved mp4 file does not have any video - just sound. Movie Maker allows me the option of saving the movie also as a wmv file - but this ends up with exactly the same result of missing video and a significantly reduced file size. Any software including Movie Maker itself plays only sound and no video - just as a result of saving. So clearly, the video is missing from the saved file.
Please note that I used the "save movie" function as I do not even understand what "save project" means. Also, in saving, I have tried just about every setting that is available such as default, HD, DVD, YouTube, Win7 etc.
What could the problem be? Help

 

[kenrivers]

You may need to convert the video to another format or re-encode using something like Handbrake or MPEG Streamclip (both of which are free). Saving a project is like saving a document in Word, it saves the work you have done so you can make changes later.

 

[Ari012]

Did you mean to convert the initial mp4 file or the file that Movie Maker saves?
By the way, when I save the project, I end up getting a tiny 3kb wlmp file whereas my mp4 file is approx. 250MB. Does that explain anything? Thanks

 

[kenrivers]

It could be the file size is smaller because it is saving only the audio and not both audio and video. Convert the video before importing into MovieMaker. You can re-encode it as a .mp4 file and then try working with it again in MovieMaker.

 

[Ari012]

I converted the file to a few formats incl. avi, wmv using vlc as well as a couple of other converters before importing the converted file into Movie Maker. Unfortunately, in every case, saving causes the movie to lose the video content while preserving sound.
I have a feeling that there is a wrong setting in my Movie Maker but I cannot find it.

 

[Ari012]

Problem resolved, but not on my laptop!
I used Movie Maker on a desktop running Win7, imported the same .mp4 file, did some movie editing, saved as .mp4 using the same default settings, and this time it saved successfully with sound and video intact.
I guess my laptop is missing something. I have ni idea what!!!