^{Importing existing digital media files}

You can import existing digital media files that are supported by Windows Movie Maker to use for your project. The files you can import might be stored on and imported from your hard disk on your computer, a shared network location, a CD, or on removable media. When importing files in Windows Movie Maker, you can import one file or multiple files at one time.

A source file you import remains in the same location from which it was imported. Windows Movie Maker does not store an actual copy of the source file; instead, a clip that refers to the original source file is created and appears in the Contents pane. After you import files into your project, don’t move, rename, or delete the original source files. If you add a clip to a project after the corresponding source file has been moved or renamed, Windows Movie Maker attempts to automatically locate the original source file. If the source file is deleted, it must be placed on your computer, or on a location your computer can access, again.

After you upgrade to this release of Windows Movie Maker, your collections file, which stores information about your collections and the clips contained within your collections in Windows Movie Maker, from a previous release of Windows Movie Maker is imported and upgraded automatically when you first start this version of Windows Movie Maker. You can then continue using your collections and content in this version of Windows Movie Maker. Therefore, if you have used previous versions of Windows Movie Maker, you can use the content you have already imported without needing to re-import the digital media files. You can import the collections file automatically at a later time if you cancelled importing and upgrading your collections file automatically when Windows Movie Maker was first started.

Note

• Digital media files that have been protected using digital rights management cannot be imported into Windows Movie Maker.

Related topics

• To import existing digital media files
• To import a Windows Movie Maker collections file
• Importing video files and clip detection
• Supported file types
• Using Windows Movie Maker