^{Importing video files and clip detection}

You can choose to have the video file separated into smaller, more manageable clips when you import video files into Windows Movie Maker. Clips are created through a process called "clip detection." When you import video files and select the Create clips for video files check box in the Import File dialog box, clips are created based on the type of video file or files you choose to import.

Clips are created as follows, for the different video file formats.

• Windows Media Format video files. If you import a Windows Media video file with an .asf or .wmv file name extension, a clip is created for each marker that is in the original file. The markers help to divide the file into manageable sizes. Markers may have been inserted into the original Windows Media file to describe a specific portion or event within the video. If the original Windows Media file contains no markers or only one marker, a clip is created when there is a substantial change in one frame of the video compared to the next frame. The minimum duration of a clip is one second.
• Other video file formats. If you import a video file that is not a Windows Media file, such as a video file with a .mpeg file name extension, a clip is created when there is a substantial change in one frame of the video compared to the next frame.
• DV-AVI files. If you import an AVI file that contains video captured from a DV camera, and time stamp information was added to that file, clips are created based on the time stamp information in the file.

If the Create clips for video files check box is not selected when you import a video file, the video file is imported and appears as one whole clip in Windows Movie Maker. You can later run clip creation after the video file is imported into Windows Movie Maker to separate the clip into smaller clips.

When importing video files, you can choose the following option:

Create clips for video files

Specifies whether video files are separated into smaller clips when imported. If this option is selected, the video file is separated into smaller video clips through clip detection. If this option is not selected, the video file is imported as a single video clip.

Related topics

• Creating clips
• Importing existing digital media files