Edit YouTube Videos with Windows Movie Maker

Livy asks, "How do you put a YouTube video on Windows Movie Maker?"

To edit YouTube videos in Windows Movie Maker you need to do a couple of things. First you need to download the video from YouTube. Next you need to convert the video from the FLV file from YouTube to a video format supported by Windows Movie Maker (like WMV). Keep in mind that the YouTube video will be 320x240, which is not a television display resolution, so if you're planning to burn a DVD the video will look even worse than it does on your computer because it will contain all of the compression artifacts introduced when it was uploaded to YouTube.

Downloading YouTube Videos

The first part of the process is downloading videos from YouTube. I've detailed several ways to do this via Web services and applications in previous articles. If you'd prefer to simply copy and paste the URL of a YouTube video page into an online form, KeepVid remains my favorite solution. For an automated download that creates a MP4 file on your system, the various free apps for converting YouTube videos to iPod compatible files, like iTube and PodTube are a solid solution. You can read more about converting YouTube videos for the iPod if you prefer this method.

Converting YouTube Videos to WMV

After downloading the YouTube video, you need to convert it to a format supported by Windows Movie Maker, which generally means WMV. To make the conversion, you need to download a converter like WinFF, which comes in handy for all kinds of audio and video solutions.

The conversion process is a series of three steps:

1) After downloading and installing WinFF, launch the application and select the FLV file from YouTube you want to edit in Windows Movie Maker.

2) Choose the WMV option from the Choose Format to Convert to... menu.

3) Pick a Destination folder to save your file(s) and click Start Converting.

When conversion completes, import the WMV you just created into Windows Movie Maker and add it to your video project.