<p>Simply put, because you are using it for more than it was intended.  Movie Maker is not designed to be used for making much more than super, super simply videos.  They didn't put a lot of resources in to it as it is an extra added for free to another product.  Asking why it has issues is a bit like asking why you can't use MS Paint for photo manipulation, it simply is not what it is designed to do.</p>

<p>WMM is fine for making simple family videos with somewhat low to moderate quality video being fed in with a couple of simple transitions and a title or two, but beyond that, it pretty much falls apart because that is all it was designed to handle.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-04-28T16:47:27.770Z
My problem with that is that any cheap point&shoot camera or cellphone will output 720p+ video...and that's what I'm considering the modern entry level video quality. Doesn't seem out of place to assume that an entry level "super super simple video" making software should be able to handle 1h or so of footage of that quality. It is a rant, I know.
JoséNunoFerreira
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-04-27T14:10:32.460Z
2015-04-27T14:10:32.460Z
AJ Henderson
<p>Didn't find any relevant question here, except for <a href="https://video.stackexchange.com/questions/4547/errors-in-windows-movie-maker">this</a> one - the answer highlights what I already suspected.</p>

<p>Basically, several people online complain about the errors Windows Movie Maker / Live Movie Maker has. I personally have experienced the following, and I have  a modern computer:</p>

<ul>
<li>Program freezes and on reloading loses all links/cuts/effects on the videos</li>
<li>Adding a new video to the timeline causes program freeze (and above issues)</li>
<li>Trying to recover the .wlmp file is fruitless, and on my case wasted around 4h of editing on a specific video (15GB of Gopro footage)</li>
</ul>

<p>I'm a technical person, and I got lost in the several tips&amp;tricks websites...and eventually gave up.</p>

<p>I really don't need any sophisticated editing suite. I only perform cuts and add background music....really the bottom end of the video editing food chain.</p>

<p>Is there a specific hardware platform that they're targeting, are they having trouble supporting big HD files? Why is a basic modern product from one of the top software companies in the world so flawed?</p>

<p>I hope I'm not being unfair.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-04-24T16:35:30.837Z
Might be better to searching for alternative software... There are a lot related questions on this site related to free or open source video editing.
p2or
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-04-24T17:54:39.337Z
I can vouch for iMovie, which is free, though you'd need to get a Mac to run it. If you're uploading to YouTube, they have a free online editor which can handle cuts and background music, though it's definitely NOT sophisticated.
BrettFromLA
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-04-28T16:50:03.243Z
@BrettFromLA iMovie is the (much better, I know) Mac equivalent. It seems to be the proper basic editor I'm talking about. According to other questions on videoSE, blender seems to be a free powerful editor - I'm looking into it.
JoséNunoFerreira
<software><windows><windows-movie-maker>
Windows Movie Maker - why is it a disaster?
JoséNunoFerreira
# Windows Movie Maker - why is it a disaster?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-04-24)

Didn't find any relevant question here, except for [this](https://video.stackexchange.com/questions/4547/errors-in-windows-movie-maker) one - the answer highlights what I already suspected.

Basically, several people online complain about the errors Windows Movie Maker / Live Movie Maker has. I personally have experienced the following, and I have a modern computer:

* Program freezes and on reloading loses all links/cuts/effects on the videos
* Adding a new video to the timeline causes program freeze (and above issues)
* Trying to recover the .wlmp file is fruitless, and on my case wasted around 4h of editing on a specific video (15GB of Gopro footage)

I'm a technical person, and I got lost in the several tips&tricks websites...and eventually gave up.

I really don't need any sophisticated editing suite. I only perform cuts and add background music....really the bottom end of the video editing food chain.

Is there a specific hardware platform that they're targeting, are they having trouble supporting big HD files? Why is a basic modern product from one of the top software companies in the world so flawed?

I hope I'm not being unfair.

**Tags:** software, windows, windows-movie-maker

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Might be better to searching for alternative software... There are a lot related questions on this site related to free or open source video editing.  
> **username_2**: I can vouch for iMovie, which is free, though you'd need to get a Mac to run it. If you're uploading to YouTube, they have a free online editor which can handle cuts and background music, though it's definitely NOT sophisticated.  
> **username_0**: @username_2 iMovie is the (much better, I know) Mac equivalent. It seems to be the proper basic editor I'm talking about. According to other questions on videoSE, blender seems to be a free powerful editor - I'm looking into it.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2015-04-27. Score: 0

Simply put, because you are using it for more than it was intended. Movie Maker is not designed to be used for making much more than super, super simply videos. They didn't put a lot of resources in to it as it is an extra added for free to another product. Asking why it has issues is a bit like asking why you can't use MS Paint for photo manipulation, it simply is not what it is designed to do.

WMM is fine for making simple family videos with somewhat low to moderate quality video being fed in with a couple of simple transitions and a title or two, but beyond that, it pretty much falls apart because that is all it was designed to handle.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: My problem with that is that any cheap point&shoot camera or cellphone will output 720p+ video...and that's what I'm considering the modern entry level video quality. Doesn't seem out of place to assume that an entry level "super super simple video" making software should be able to handle 1h or so of footage of that quality. It is a rant, I know.  

---

