[Updated] Enhancing Viewer Interest with Thumbnails

[Updated] Enhancing Viewer Interest with Thumbnails

Steven Lv12

Enhancing Viewer Interest with Thumbnails

What’s the Best YouTube Thumbnail Size?

Richard Bennett

Dec 30, 2022• Proven solutions

0

Making better YouTube thumbnails will help you get more views, and knowing the best YouTube thumbnail size is part of that. There are millions of videos on YouTube, so if you want the audience to click on yours, then you need to make a great first impression.

  1. What’s the ideal YouTube thumbnail Size and Dimension?
  2. Tips for Perfect Thumbnails
  3. Making Better Thumbnails for YouTube

1. What’s the ideal YouTube thumbnail Size and Dimension?

An essential thing that every YouTube video developer needs to know is about the selection of the right side of the thumbnail for any video. As per the guidelines circulated by Google itself, the most appropriate size for the thumbnail image is 1280x720 pixels, where the recommended minimal pixel width is 640 pixels. Generally, the 16:9 ratio is considered as an ideal choice for Most of YouTube previews and players.

Here is one interesting thing that you need to know; the thumbnail of videos appears smaller during searches, but it naturally grows to the full size of a video during suggestions. Now the fact is that upscaling of images often loses the quality of content, whereas it is much easier to downscale larger images into smaller ones. Hence, the best idea is to use large size images so that this search and suggestion based scaling needs can be well accomplished.

You May Also Like:
Top 12 Best Free YouTube Thumbnail Makers >>
How to Download YouTube Thumbnail in 3 Ways [Online/Win/Mac] >>

2. Tips for Perfect Thumbnails

So, if you are ready to add thumbnails to your videos, then it is time to learn a few essential tips to do this task with improved impact. You need to ignore the blurry details and boost the eye-catching ones. Here are a few essential tips for developing the best videos with an impressive selection of thumbnail images:

YouTube’s Default Thumbnails

When you upload your video on YouTube, the platform itself gives you suggestions about thumbnails, and they are directly picked up from your own video. Although the idea is good and original, these thumbnails use to be of low quality with blur details. Hope! You don’t want to lose your audience with this bad selection.

Custom Thumbnails

This is probably the best choice for your customized videos, and the interesting thing is that here you can control everything manually with lots of useful effects.

First of all, you need to open your video on YouTube and then scrub a useful still from your video that you wish to use as a thumbnail.

Now, you need to take a screenshot of this particular instance of your video file. The best part is that most of the operating systems allow users to enjoy several shortcuts to complete this task. For example:

Mac users need to press Command+Shift+4 and then simply highlight the area that you want to include in your screenshot with the help of a frame. The system will automatically save your selected area to your desktop in the form of an image.

Window users are advised to access Windows Key with Print Screen option to get their desired screenshot.

Once you are ready with your video specific still image, then simply get it uploaded on YouTube using the edit video page.

3. Making Better Thumbnails for YouTube

The best part is to access some photo editing software tool to edit your image the way you like. You can use an advanced tool like Photoshop or a free online tool like Canva.

  • Focus on Size:

It is always advised to create thumbnail images with standard video file size; the most commonly used standard size range is 1980x1080 or 1280x720. Images having a size smaller than this range may often appear blurry.

  • Add Text:

The best idea is to use text-based editing for your thumbnail images and preferably add the title of your video to this image. It will naturally attract more viewers.

  • Borders matter:

Professionals recommend adding borders around thumbnail images but do not try to make it too thick rather, try to make it noticeable with fine details.

  • Background editing:

Most of the expert video thumbnail developers prefer to change the impact of thumbnail background by simply replacing the background color with solid colors. It will definitely attract more viewers and will bring major attention to the major subject.

  • Test it before uploading:

Before uploading your customized thumbnail to your YouTube channel, prefer to check its final view. Zoom in to check the appearance of the thumbnail image on the larger screen, and it should also look fine when sized down.

Now that you know the best YouTube thumbnail size and how to design better thumbnails, do you think you’ll revisit the thumbnails of your existing YouTube videos?

If you want to find a video editing solution that empowers your imagination and creativity yet takes less effort, please try this robust and user-friendly video editing software Wondershare Filmora. It provides special effects, stock photo & video, sound library, etc., which will definitely enhance your productivity and helps to make money by making videos much accessible.

Download Filmora9 Win Version Download Filmora9 Mac Version

author avatar

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Dec 30, 2022• Proven solutions

0

Making better YouTube thumbnails will help you get more views, and knowing the best YouTube thumbnail size is part of that. There are millions of videos on YouTube, so if you want the audience to click on yours, then you need to make a great first impression.

  1. What’s the ideal YouTube thumbnail Size and Dimension?
  2. Tips for Perfect Thumbnails
  3. Making Better Thumbnails for YouTube

1. What’s the ideal YouTube thumbnail Size and Dimension?

An essential thing that every YouTube video developer needs to know is about the selection of the right side of the thumbnail for any video. As per the guidelines circulated by Google itself, the most appropriate size for the thumbnail image is 1280x720 pixels, where the recommended minimal pixel width is 640 pixels. Generally, the 16:9 ratio is considered as an ideal choice for Most of YouTube previews and players.

Here is one interesting thing that you need to know; the thumbnail of videos appears smaller during searches, but it naturally grows to the full size of a video during suggestions. Now the fact is that upscaling of images often loses the quality of content, whereas it is much easier to downscale larger images into smaller ones. Hence, the best idea is to use large size images so that this search and suggestion based scaling needs can be well accomplished.

You May Also Like:
Top 12 Best Free YouTube Thumbnail Makers >>
How to Download YouTube Thumbnail in 3 Ways [Online/Win/Mac] >>

2. Tips for Perfect Thumbnails

So, if you are ready to add thumbnails to your videos, then it is time to learn a few essential tips to do this task with improved impact. You need to ignore the blurry details and boost the eye-catching ones. Here are a few essential tips for developing the best videos with an impressive selection of thumbnail images:

YouTube’s Default Thumbnails

When you upload your video on YouTube, the platform itself gives you suggestions about thumbnails, and they are directly picked up from your own video. Although the idea is good and original, these thumbnails use to be of low quality with blur details. Hope! You don’t want to lose your audience with this bad selection.

Custom Thumbnails

This is probably the best choice for your customized videos, and the interesting thing is that here you can control everything manually with lots of useful effects.

First of all, you need to open your video on YouTube and then scrub a useful still from your video that you wish to use as a thumbnail.

Now, you need to take a screenshot of this particular instance of your video file. The best part is that most of the operating systems allow users to enjoy several shortcuts to complete this task. For example:

Mac users need to press Command+Shift+4 and then simply highlight the area that you want to include in your screenshot with the help of a frame. The system will automatically save your selected area to your desktop in the form of an image.

Window users are advised to access Windows Key with Print Screen option to get their desired screenshot.

Once you are ready with your video specific still image, then simply get it uploaded on YouTube using the edit video page.

3. Making Better Thumbnails for YouTube

The best part is to access some photo editing software tool to edit your image the way you like. You can use an advanced tool like Photoshop or a free online tool like Canva.

  • Focus on Size:

It is always advised to create thumbnail images with standard video file size; the most commonly used standard size range is 1980x1080 or 1280x720. Images having a size smaller than this range may often appear blurry.

  • Add Text:

The best idea is to use text-based editing for your thumbnail images and preferably add the title of your video to this image. It will naturally attract more viewers.

  • Borders matter:

Professionals recommend adding borders around thumbnail images but do not try to make it too thick rather, try to make it noticeable with fine details.

  • Background editing:

Most of the expert video thumbnail developers prefer to change the impact of thumbnail background by simply replacing the background color with solid colors. It will definitely attract more viewers and will bring major attention to the major subject.

  • Test it before uploading:

Before uploading your customized thumbnail to your YouTube channel, prefer to check its final view. Zoom in to check the appearance of the thumbnail image on the larger screen, and it should also look fine when sized down.

Now that you know the best YouTube thumbnail size and how to design better thumbnails, do you think you’ll revisit the thumbnails of your existing YouTube videos?

If you want to find a video editing solution that empowers your imagination and creativity yet takes less effort, please try this robust and user-friendly video editing software Wondershare Filmora. It provides special effects, stock photo & video, sound library, etc., which will definitely enhance your productivity and helps to make money by making videos much accessible.

Download Filmora9 Win Version Download Filmora9 Mac Version

author avatar

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Dec 30, 2022• Proven solutions

0

Making better YouTube thumbnails will help you get more views, and knowing the best YouTube thumbnail size is part of that. There are millions of videos on YouTube, so if you want the audience to click on yours, then you need to make a great first impression.

  1. What’s the ideal YouTube thumbnail Size and Dimension?
  2. Tips for Perfect Thumbnails
  3. Making Better Thumbnails for YouTube

1. What’s the ideal YouTube thumbnail Size and Dimension?

An essential thing that every YouTube video developer needs to know is about the selection of the right side of the thumbnail for any video. As per the guidelines circulated by Google itself, the most appropriate size for the thumbnail image is 1280x720 pixels, where the recommended minimal pixel width is 640 pixels. Generally, the 16:9 ratio is considered as an ideal choice for Most of YouTube previews and players.

Here is one interesting thing that you need to know; the thumbnail of videos appears smaller during searches, but it naturally grows to the full size of a video during suggestions. Now the fact is that upscaling of images often loses the quality of content, whereas it is much easier to downscale larger images into smaller ones. Hence, the best idea is to use large size images so that this search and suggestion based scaling needs can be well accomplished.

You May Also Like:
Top 12 Best Free YouTube Thumbnail Makers >>
How to Download YouTube Thumbnail in 3 Ways [Online/Win/Mac] >>

2. Tips for Perfect Thumbnails

So, if you are ready to add thumbnails to your videos, then it is time to learn a few essential tips to do this task with improved impact. You need to ignore the blurry details and boost the eye-catching ones. Here are a few essential tips for developing the best videos with an impressive selection of thumbnail images:

YouTube’s Default Thumbnails

When you upload your video on YouTube, the platform itself gives you suggestions about thumbnails, and they are directly picked up from your own video. Although the idea is good and original, these thumbnails use to be of low quality with blur details. Hope! You don’t want to lose your audience with this bad selection.

Custom Thumbnails

This is probably the best choice for your customized videos, and the interesting thing is that here you can control everything manually with lots of useful effects.

First of all, you need to open your video on YouTube and then scrub a useful still from your video that you wish to use as a thumbnail.

Now, you need to take a screenshot of this particular instance of your video file. The best part is that most of the operating systems allow users to enjoy several shortcuts to complete this task. For example:

Mac users need to press Command+Shift+4 and then simply highlight the area that you want to include in your screenshot with the help of a frame. The system will automatically save your selected area to your desktop in the form of an image.

Window users are advised to access Windows Key with Print Screen option to get their desired screenshot.

Once you are ready with your video specific still image, then simply get it uploaded on YouTube using the edit video page.

3. Making Better Thumbnails for YouTube

The best part is to access some photo editing software tool to edit your image the way you like. You can use an advanced tool like Photoshop or a free online tool like Canva.

  • Focus on Size:

It is always advised to create thumbnail images with standard video file size; the most commonly used standard size range is 1980x1080 or 1280x720. Images having a size smaller than this range may often appear blurry.

  • Add Text:

The best idea is to use text-based editing for your thumbnail images and preferably add the title of your video to this image. It will naturally attract more viewers.

  • Borders matter:

Professionals recommend adding borders around thumbnail images but do not try to make it too thick rather, try to make it noticeable with fine details.

  • Background editing:

Most of the expert video thumbnail developers prefer to change the impact of thumbnail background by simply replacing the background color with solid colors. It will definitely attract more viewers and will bring major attention to the major subject.

  • Test it before uploading:

Before uploading your customized thumbnail to your YouTube channel, prefer to check its final view. Zoom in to check the appearance of the thumbnail image on the larger screen, and it should also look fine when sized down.

Now that you know the best YouTube thumbnail size and how to design better thumbnails, do you think you’ll revisit the thumbnails of your existing YouTube videos?

If you want to find a video editing solution that empowers your imagination and creativity yet takes less effort, please try this robust and user-friendly video editing software Wondershare Filmora. It provides special effects, stock photo & video, sound library, etc., which will definitely enhance your productivity and helps to make money by making videos much accessible.

Download Filmora9 Win Version Download Filmora9 Mac Version

author avatar

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Dec 30, 2022• Proven solutions

0

Making better YouTube thumbnails will help you get more views, and knowing the best YouTube thumbnail size is part of that. There are millions of videos on YouTube, so if you want the audience to click on yours, then you need to make a great first impression.

  1. What’s the ideal YouTube thumbnail Size and Dimension?
  2. Tips for Perfect Thumbnails
  3. Making Better Thumbnails for YouTube

1. What’s the ideal YouTube thumbnail Size and Dimension?

An essential thing that every YouTube video developer needs to know is about the selection of the right side of the thumbnail for any video. As per the guidelines circulated by Google itself, the most appropriate size for the thumbnail image is 1280x720 pixels, where the recommended minimal pixel width is 640 pixels. Generally, the 16:9 ratio is considered as an ideal choice for Most of YouTube previews and players.

Here is one interesting thing that you need to know; the thumbnail of videos appears smaller during searches, but it naturally grows to the full size of a video during suggestions. Now the fact is that upscaling of images often loses the quality of content, whereas it is much easier to downscale larger images into smaller ones. Hence, the best idea is to use large size images so that this search and suggestion based scaling needs can be well accomplished.

You May Also Like:
Top 12 Best Free YouTube Thumbnail Makers >>
How to Download YouTube Thumbnail in 3 Ways [Online/Win/Mac] >>

2. Tips for Perfect Thumbnails

So, if you are ready to add thumbnails to your videos, then it is time to learn a few essential tips to do this task with improved impact. You need to ignore the blurry details and boost the eye-catching ones. Here are a few essential tips for developing the best videos with an impressive selection of thumbnail images:

YouTube’s Default Thumbnails

When you upload your video on YouTube, the platform itself gives you suggestions about thumbnails, and they are directly picked up from your own video. Although the idea is good and original, these thumbnails use to be of low quality with blur details. Hope! You don’t want to lose your audience with this bad selection.

Custom Thumbnails

This is probably the best choice for your customized videos, and the interesting thing is that here you can control everything manually with lots of useful effects.

First of all, you need to open your video on YouTube and then scrub a useful still from your video that you wish to use as a thumbnail.

Now, you need to take a screenshot of this particular instance of your video file. The best part is that most of the operating systems allow users to enjoy several shortcuts to complete this task. For example:

Mac users need to press Command+Shift+4 and then simply highlight the area that you want to include in your screenshot with the help of a frame. The system will automatically save your selected area to your desktop in the form of an image.

Window users are advised to access Windows Key with Print Screen option to get their desired screenshot.

Once you are ready with your video specific still image, then simply get it uploaded on YouTube using the edit video page.

3. Making Better Thumbnails for YouTube

The best part is to access some photo editing software tool to edit your image the way you like. You can use an advanced tool like Photoshop or a free online tool like Canva.

  • Focus on Size:

It is always advised to create thumbnail images with standard video file size; the most commonly used standard size range is 1980x1080 or 1280x720. Images having a size smaller than this range may often appear blurry.

  • Add Text:

The best idea is to use text-based editing for your thumbnail images and preferably add the title of your video to this image. It will naturally attract more viewers.

  • Borders matter:

Professionals recommend adding borders around thumbnail images but do not try to make it too thick rather, try to make it noticeable with fine details.

  • Background editing:

Most of the expert video thumbnail developers prefer to change the impact of thumbnail background by simply replacing the background color with solid colors. It will definitely attract more viewers and will bring major attention to the major subject.

  • Test it before uploading:

Before uploading your customized thumbnail to your YouTube channel, prefer to check its final view. Zoom in to check the appearance of the thumbnail image on the larger screen, and it should also look fine when sized down.

Now that you know the best YouTube thumbnail size and how to design better thumbnails, do you think you’ll revisit the thumbnails of your existing YouTube videos?

If you want to find a video editing solution that empowers your imagination and creativity yet takes less effort, please try this robust and user-friendly video editing software Wondershare Filmora. It provides special effects, stock photo & video, sound library, etc., which will definitely enhance your productivity and helps to make money by making videos much accessible.

Download Filmora9 Win Version Download Filmora9 Mac Version

author avatar

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Essential Techniques for YT Video Tweaking with WM Maker

How to Edit YouTube videos in Windows Movie Maker

author avatar

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

We all know YouTube is an important platform for sharing and watching videos. Are you a YouTuber looking for how to edit YouTube video with the best YouTube movie maker? You have come the right place if you wonder how to edit a video for YouTube on Windows. While, if you have free Windows Movie Maker already installed on your computer, you can edit YouTube videos in Windows Movie Maker and then upload to YouTube directly. In this article, I will show you all the information you need to know about how to edit a video for YouTube in Windows Movie Maker with step by step.

You may also like : The Ultimate Guide to YouTube Video Editing Tools


In case that you do not have free Windows Movie Maker in your computer, you may need to download it from other website since Microsoft has removed the downloading link after January 2017. Please pay attention when downloading the Movie Maker application from website and never download it from untrusted website.

A better way to edit YouTube Videos - Wondershare Filmora supports many formats including MP4, MOV, MKV, and FLV, which means that you will not need to convert the files before and after editing. Like Windows Movie Maker, Wondershare Filmora is easy to use but comes with many more features that allow for professional-grade videos. One of these features is the animated text. There are also built-in presets that you can use to quickly edit your videos. There is also the option to directly upload a video to YouTube from Filmora, so no time is wasted waiting for a video to process.

Download Win VersionDownload Mac Version ](https://tools.techidaily.com/wondershare/filmora/download/ )

It is hard to list all the information of how to use Filmora to edit YouTube videos here, but we have composed an article about how to edit videos, you can check How to Edit Video in Filmora: Beginners’ Guide .


Windows Movie Maker YouTube: How to Edit YouTube Videos?

Before editing the video in Windows Movie Maker , you have to make sure that the video format is supported by free Windows Movie Maker. As you may know that Window Movie Maker only accept the following file formats at importing: .WMV/.ASF, .MPG (MPEG-1), .AVI (DV-AVI), .WMA, .WAV, and .MP3. Importing formats such as MP4/3GP, FLV and MOV, are also supported you are running Windows 7 or later and you have installed the necessary codec as well.

If your videos are not supported at importing in Windows Movie Maker, you may need to converter it first or choose a video editor like Filmora video editor which supports the almost all popular formats.

Step 1: Import Video Files Into Windows Movie Maker

youtube movie maker import video

To import video or photo into Windows Movie Maker, you can click on the button Add Videos or Photos located at the top of the program. A file window will open, and you can select the videos from any area of your computer. Once you have the files selected, click OK to import the files to the storyboard in the right hand panel.

You can also choose to record a webcam on your windows 10 or windows 7 computer and use it as the material.

free youtube movie maker recording

Step 2: Trim/Cut/Split/Combine videos in Windows Movie Maker

Preview the video clips in the preview box. You can always use the Previous Frame or Next Frame to preview video frame by frame. When editing a video for YouTube, you may need to trim to remove unwanted parts from the video , combine several clips into a new one or split the video into several smaller parts .

To remove any parts of the video that you do not want in the final version of the video, locate the start frame that you want to remove in the storyboard, and then click the Split button to get the starting point of the split segment, and then locate the end frame that you want to remove and click Split again. Right-click the split video clip you want to remove and select Remove from the context menu. This can be done as many times as you want.

free youtube movie maker cut/trim

Step 3: Apply Transitions and Visual Effects to YouTube Video

Once you have all the clips that you want in your video, you can then add transitions to the video. At the top of Windows Movie Maker, there is a button that says Animations. This will open a menu that has different options. You need to select the clip, and add the transition that you want. The program does the rest of the work. You can see how it looks by clicking play.

youtube movie maker to add transition

Applying visual effects, overlays and filters work in the same way, but you click on Visual Effects, which is located at the top of the window. You can apply effects to any clip as along as the clip is selected first.

Step 4: Edit/Mute Audio in Video or Add New Audio Sound

If you are planning on adding music to your video, you should think about muting the audio in video or decrease the audio volume in Video. Double click the video clip to enter the Edit panel, and then then click on Video Volume button. You can then mute the audio by drag the volume slider to the left end. Of course, you can adjust the video audio volume per your need. This will affect the all the sounds on that video clip. If you want to mute all the clips, you need to select all the clips, or you will end up with one clip with no sound, and the rest of the clips having sound.

video movie maker mute audio

Once the sound has been adjusted on the clips, you can add new audio sound to the video. You can record narrations for your YouTube video in Windows Movie Maker by clicking Record narration button in Home tab and add music to video by clicking Add music button and select the music to import it. You can add music from your computer or find new music sound from AudioMicro, Vimeo or Free Music Archive online.

video movie maker add audio

After importing the new audio file for your YouTube video, you can now adjust the music volume. In the Music Tools tab, there is an Option tab, you can control the volume and other options about the music.

video movie maker edit music

Step 5: Add Title and Text to Video for YouTube

Windows Movie Maker allows you to add different types of text freely. You will see 3 buttons that allow different types of text to video: stationary title, captions and rolling credits. Click on Title, you can add text before the video begins; select Caption, you will write text to the video frames; and click Credits will add end credits to the end of the video.

 free video movie maker add text

After selecting the type of text you want, you can enter your text and edit the text effects. You can change the text duration and apply text visual effects, and change the text outline size and more.

movie maker for youtube edit text

Check the detailed information of How to Add Text in Windows Movie Maker .

Step 6: Save and Publish

Once all the edits are done, you can save the video by clicking on File then clicking on Publish Movie. You will need to select where you want to save the file and the file type. Since we are editing videos for YouTube, choose YouTube to upload the edited video to YouTube. You can also save the video in computer with different formats, resolution or burn to DVD. Windows Movie Maker also allows you to save the Video for Email or for mobile devices.

movie maker for youtube edit video

Conclusion

That’s it. That’s how you can edit your YouTube video with Windows Movie Maker. It is a great YouTube video editor to make video with various features. However, you may consider other YouTube movie maker as it won’t updated. Why not try Filmora. It is one of the best movie editor for YouTube. Download it now to have a try!

Download Win VersionDownload Mac Version ](https://tools.techidaily.com/wondershare/filmora/download/ )

author avatar

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

We all know YouTube is an important platform for sharing and watching videos. Are you a YouTuber looking for how to edit YouTube video with the best YouTube movie maker? You have come the right place if you wonder how to edit a video for YouTube on Windows. While, if you have free Windows Movie Maker already installed on your computer, you can edit YouTube videos in Windows Movie Maker and then upload to YouTube directly. In this article, I will show you all the information you need to know about how to edit a video for YouTube in Windows Movie Maker with step by step.

You may also like : The Ultimate Guide to YouTube Video Editing Tools


In case that you do not have free Windows Movie Maker in your computer, you may need to download it from other website since Microsoft has removed the downloading link after January 2017. Please pay attention when downloading the Movie Maker application from website and never download it from untrusted website.

A better way to edit YouTube Videos - Wondershare Filmora supports many formats including MP4, MOV, MKV, and FLV, which means that you will not need to convert the files before and after editing. Like Windows Movie Maker, Wondershare Filmora is easy to use but comes with many more features that allow for professional-grade videos. One of these features is the animated text. There are also built-in presets that you can use to quickly edit your videos. There is also the option to directly upload a video to YouTube from Filmora, so no time is wasted waiting for a video to process.

Download Win VersionDownload Mac Version ](https://tools.techidaily.com/wondershare/filmora/download/ )

It is hard to list all the information of how to use Filmora to edit YouTube videos here, but we have composed an article about how to edit videos, you can check How to Edit Video in Filmora: Beginners’ Guide .


Windows Movie Maker YouTube: How to Edit YouTube Videos?

Before editing the video in Windows Movie Maker , you have to make sure that the video format is supported by free Windows Movie Maker. As you may know that Window Movie Maker only accept the following file formats at importing: .WMV/.ASF, .MPG (MPEG-1), .AVI (DV-AVI), .WMA, .WAV, and .MP3. Importing formats such as MP4/3GP, FLV and MOV, are also supported you are running Windows 7 or later and you have installed the necessary codec as well.

If your videos are not supported at importing in Windows Movie Maker, you may need to converter it first or choose a video editor like Filmora video editor which supports the almost all popular formats.

Step 1: Import Video Files Into Windows Movie Maker

youtube movie maker import video

To import video or photo into Windows Movie Maker, you can click on the button Add Videos or Photos located at the top of the program. A file window will open, and you can select the videos from any area of your computer. Once you have the files selected, click OK to import the files to the storyboard in the right hand panel.

You can also choose to record a webcam on your windows 10 or windows 7 computer and use it as the material.

free youtube movie maker recording

Step 2: Trim/Cut/Split/Combine videos in Windows Movie Maker

Preview the video clips in the preview box. You can always use the Previous Frame or Next Frame to preview video frame by frame. When editing a video for YouTube, you may need to trim to remove unwanted parts from the video , combine several clips into a new one or split the video into several smaller parts .

To remove any parts of the video that you do not want in the final version of the video, locate the start frame that you want to remove in the storyboard, and then click the Split button to get the starting point of the split segment, and then locate the end frame that you want to remove and click Split again. Right-click the split video clip you want to remove and select Remove from the context menu. This can be done as many times as you want.

free youtube movie maker cut/trim

Step 3: Apply Transitions and Visual Effects to YouTube Video

Once you have all the clips that you want in your video, you can then add transitions to the video. At the top of Windows Movie Maker, there is a button that says Animations. This will open a menu that has different options. You need to select the clip, and add the transition that you want. The program does the rest of the work. You can see how it looks by clicking play.

youtube movie maker to add transition

Applying visual effects, overlays and filters work in the same way, but you click on Visual Effects, which is located at the top of the window. You can apply effects to any clip as along as the clip is selected first.

Step 4: Edit/Mute Audio in Video or Add New Audio Sound

If you are planning on adding music to your video, you should think about muting the audio in video or decrease the audio volume in Video. Double click the video clip to enter the Edit panel, and then then click on Video Volume button. You can then mute the audio by drag the volume slider to the left end. Of course, you can adjust the video audio volume per your need. This will affect the all the sounds on that video clip. If you want to mute all the clips, you need to select all the clips, or you will end up with one clip with no sound, and the rest of the clips having sound.

video movie maker mute audio

Once the sound has been adjusted on the clips, you can add new audio sound to the video. You can record narrations for your YouTube video in Windows Movie Maker by clicking Record narration button in Home tab and add music to video by clicking Add music button and select the music to import it. You can add music from your computer or find new music sound from AudioMicro, Vimeo or Free Music Archive online.

video movie maker add audio

After importing the new audio file for your YouTube video, you can now adjust the music volume. In the Music Tools tab, there is an Option tab, you can control the volume and other options about the music.

video movie maker edit music

Step 5: Add Title and Text to Video for YouTube

Windows Movie Maker allows you to add different types of text freely. You will see 3 buttons that allow different types of text to video: stationary title, captions and rolling credits. Click on Title, you can add text before the video begins; select Caption, you will write text to the video frames; and click Credits will add end credits to the end of the video.

 free video movie maker add text

After selecting the type of text you want, you can enter your text and edit the text effects. You can change the text duration and apply text visual effects, and change the text outline size and more.

movie maker for youtube edit text

Check the detailed information of How to Add Text in Windows Movie Maker .

Step 6: Save and Publish

Once all the edits are done, you can save the video by clicking on File then clicking on Publish Movie. You will need to select where you want to save the file and the file type. Since we are editing videos for YouTube, choose YouTube to upload the edited video to YouTube. You can also save the video in computer with different formats, resolution or burn to DVD. Windows Movie Maker also allows you to save the Video for Email or for mobile devices.

movie maker for youtube edit video

Conclusion

That’s it. That’s how you can edit your YouTube video with Windows Movie Maker. It is a great YouTube video editor to make video with various features. However, you may consider other YouTube movie maker as it won’t updated. Why not try Filmora. It is one of the best movie editor for YouTube. Download it now to have a try!

Download Win VersionDownload Mac Version ](https://tools.techidaily.com/wondershare/filmora/download/ )

author avatar

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

We all know YouTube is an important platform for sharing and watching videos. Are you a YouTuber looking for how to edit YouTube video with the best YouTube movie maker? You have come the right place if you wonder how to edit a video for YouTube on Windows. While, if you have free Windows Movie Maker already installed on your computer, you can edit YouTube videos in Windows Movie Maker and then upload to YouTube directly. In this article, I will show you all the information you need to know about how to edit a video for YouTube in Windows Movie Maker with step by step.

You may also like : The Ultimate Guide to YouTube Video Editing Tools


In case that you do not have free Windows Movie Maker in your computer, you may need to download it from other website since Microsoft has removed the downloading link after January 2017. Please pay attention when downloading the Movie Maker application from website and never download it from untrusted website.

A better way to edit YouTube Videos - Wondershare Filmora supports many formats including MP4, MOV, MKV, and FLV, which means that you will not need to convert the files before and after editing. Like Windows Movie Maker, Wondershare Filmora is easy to use but comes with many more features that allow for professional-grade videos. One of these features is the animated text. There are also built-in presets that you can use to quickly edit your videos. There is also the option to directly upload a video to YouTube from Filmora, so no time is wasted waiting for a video to process.

Download Win VersionDownload Mac Version ](https://tools.techidaily.com/wondershare/filmora/download/ )

It is hard to list all the information of how to use Filmora to edit YouTube videos here, but we have composed an article about how to edit videos, you can check How to Edit Video in Filmora: Beginners’ Guide .


Windows Movie Maker YouTube: How to Edit YouTube Videos?

Before editing the video in Windows Movie Maker , you have to make sure that the video format is supported by free Windows Movie Maker. As you may know that Window Movie Maker only accept the following file formats at importing: .WMV/.ASF, .MPG (MPEG-1), .AVI (DV-AVI), .WMA, .WAV, and .MP3. Importing formats such as MP4/3GP, FLV and MOV, are also supported you are running Windows 7 or later and you have installed the necessary codec as well.

If your videos are not supported at importing in Windows Movie Maker, you may need to converter it first or choose a video editor like Filmora video editor which supports the almost all popular formats.

Step 1: Import Video Files Into Windows Movie Maker

youtube movie maker import video

To import video or photo into Windows Movie Maker, you can click on the button Add Videos or Photos located at the top of the program. A file window will open, and you can select the videos from any area of your computer. Once you have the files selected, click OK to import the files to the storyboard in the right hand panel.

You can also choose to record a webcam on your windows 10 or windows 7 computer and use it as the material.

free youtube movie maker recording

Step 2: Trim/Cut/Split/Combine videos in Windows Movie Maker

Preview the video clips in the preview box. You can always use the Previous Frame or Next Frame to preview video frame by frame. When editing a video for YouTube, you may need to trim to remove unwanted parts from the video , combine several clips into a new one or split the video into several smaller parts .

To remove any parts of the video that you do not want in the final version of the video, locate the start frame that you want to remove in the storyboard, and then click the Split button to get the starting point of the split segment, and then locate the end frame that you want to remove and click Split again. Right-click the split video clip you want to remove and select Remove from the context menu. This can be done as many times as you want.

free youtube movie maker cut/trim

Step 3: Apply Transitions and Visual Effects to YouTube Video

Once you have all the clips that you want in your video, you can then add transitions to the video. At the top of Windows Movie Maker, there is a button that says Animations. This will open a menu that has different options. You need to select the clip, and add the transition that you want. The program does the rest of the work. You can see how it looks by clicking play.

youtube movie maker to add transition

Applying visual effects, overlays and filters work in the same way, but you click on Visual Effects, which is located at the top of the window. You can apply effects to any clip as along as the clip is selected first.

Step 4: Edit/Mute Audio in Video or Add New Audio Sound

If you are planning on adding music to your video, you should think about muting the audio in video or decrease the audio volume in Video. Double click the video clip to enter the Edit panel, and then then click on Video Volume button. You can then mute the audio by drag the volume slider to the left end. Of course, you can adjust the video audio volume per your need. This will affect the all the sounds on that video clip. If you want to mute all the clips, you need to select all the clips, or you will end up with one clip with no sound, and the rest of the clips having sound.

video movie maker mute audio

Once the sound has been adjusted on the clips, you can add new audio sound to the video. You can record narrations for your YouTube video in Windows Movie Maker by clicking Record narration button in Home tab and add music to video by clicking Add music button and select the music to import it. You can add music from your computer or find new music sound from AudioMicro, Vimeo or Free Music Archive online.

video movie maker add audio

After importing the new audio file for your YouTube video, you can now adjust the music volume. In the Music Tools tab, there is an Option tab, you can control the volume and other options about the music.

video movie maker edit music

Step 5: Add Title and Text to Video for YouTube

Windows Movie Maker allows you to add different types of text freely. You will see 3 buttons that allow different types of text to video: stationary title, captions and rolling credits. Click on Title, you can add text before the video begins; select Caption, you will write text to the video frames; and click Credits will add end credits to the end of the video.

 free video movie maker add text

After selecting the type of text you want, you can enter your text and edit the text effects. You can change the text duration and apply text visual effects, and change the text outline size and more.

movie maker for youtube edit text

Check the detailed information of How to Add Text in Windows Movie Maker .

Step 6: Save and Publish

Once all the edits are done, you can save the video by clicking on File then clicking on Publish Movie. You will need to select where you want to save the file and the file type. Since we are editing videos for YouTube, choose YouTube to upload the edited video to YouTube. You can also save the video in computer with different formats, resolution or burn to DVD. Windows Movie Maker also allows you to save the Video for Email or for mobile devices.

movie maker for youtube edit video

Conclusion

That’s it. That’s how you can edit your YouTube video with Windows Movie Maker. It is a great YouTube video editor to make video with various features. However, you may consider other YouTube movie maker as it won’t updated. Why not try Filmora. It is one of the best movie editor for YouTube. Download it now to have a try!

Download Win VersionDownload Mac Version ](https://tools.techidaily.com/wondershare/filmora/download/ )

author avatar

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

We all know YouTube is an important platform for sharing and watching videos. Are you a YouTuber looking for how to edit YouTube video with the best YouTube movie maker? You have come the right place if you wonder how to edit a video for YouTube on Windows. While, if you have free Windows Movie Maker already installed on your computer, you can edit YouTube videos in Windows Movie Maker and then upload to YouTube directly. In this article, I will show you all the information you need to know about how to edit a video for YouTube in Windows Movie Maker with step by step.

You may also like : The Ultimate Guide to YouTube Video Editing Tools


In case that you do not have free Windows Movie Maker in your computer, you may need to download it from other website since Microsoft has removed the downloading link after January 2017. Please pay attention when downloading the Movie Maker application from website and never download it from untrusted website.

A better way to edit YouTube Videos - Wondershare Filmora supports many formats including MP4, MOV, MKV, and FLV, which means that you will not need to convert the files before and after editing. Like Windows Movie Maker, Wondershare Filmora is easy to use but comes with many more features that allow for professional-grade videos. One of these features is the animated text. There are also built-in presets that you can use to quickly edit your videos. There is also the option to directly upload a video to YouTube from Filmora, so no time is wasted waiting for a video to process.

Download Win VersionDownload Mac Version ](https://tools.techidaily.com/wondershare/filmora/download/ )

It is hard to list all the information of how to use Filmora to edit YouTube videos here, but we have composed an article about how to edit videos, you can check How to Edit Video in Filmora: Beginners’ Guide .


Windows Movie Maker YouTube: How to Edit YouTube Videos?

Before editing the video in Windows Movie Maker , you have to make sure that the video format is supported by free Windows Movie Maker. As you may know that Window Movie Maker only accept the following file formats at importing: .WMV/.ASF, .MPG (MPEG-1), .AVI (DV-AVI), .WMA, .WAV, and .MP3. Importing formats such as MP4/3GP, FLV and MOV, are also supported you are running Windows 7 or later and you have installed the necessary codec as well.

If your videos are not supported at importing in Windows Movie Maker, you may need to converter it first or choose a video editor like Filmora video editor which supports the almost all popular formats.

Step 1: Import Video Files Into Windows Movie Maker

youtube movie maker import video

To import video or photo into Windows Movie Maker, you can click on the button Add Videos or Photos located at the top of the program. A file window will open, and you can select the videos from any area of your computer. Once you have the files selected, click OK to import the files to the storyboard in the right hand panel.

You can also choose to record a webcam on your windows 10 or windows 7 computer and use it as the material.

free youtube movie maker recording

Step 2: Trim/Cut/Split/Combine videos in Windows Movie Maker

Preview the video clips in the preview box. You can always use the Previous Frame or Next Frame to preview video frame by frame. When editing a video for YouTube, you may need to trim to remove unwanted parts from the video , combine several clips into a new one or split the video into several smaller parts .

To remove any parts of the video that you do not want in the final version of the video, locate the start frame that you want to remove in the storyboard, and then click the Split button to get the starting point of the split segment, and then locate the end frame that you want to remove and click Split again. Right-click the split video clip you want to remove and select Remove from the context menu. This can be done as many times as you want.

free youtube movie maker cut/trim

Step 3: Apply Transitions and Visual Effects to YouTube Video

Once you have all the clips that you want in your video, you can then add transitions to the video. At the top of Windows Movie Maker, there is a button that says Animations. This will open a menu that has different options. You need to select the clip, and add the transition that you want. The program does the rest of the work. You can see how it looks by clicking play.

youtube movie maker to add transition

Applying visual effects, overlays and filters work in the same way, but you click on Visual Effects, which is located at the top of the window. You can apply effects to any clip as along as the clip is selected first.

Step 4: Edit/Mute Audio in Video or Add New Audio Sound

If you are planning on adding music to your video, you should think about muting the audio in video or decrease the audio volume in Video. Double click the video clip to enter the Edit panel, and then then click on Video Volume button. You can then mute the audio by drag the volume slider to the left end. Of course, you can adjust the video audio volume per your need. This will affect the all the sounds on that video clip. If you want to mute all the clips, you need to select all the clips, or you will end up with one clip with no sound, and the rest of the clips having sound.

video movie maker mute audio

Once the sound has been adjusted on the clips, you can add new audio sound to the video. You can record narrations for your YouTube video in Windows Movie Maker by clicking Record narration button in Home tab and add music to video by clicking Add music button and select the music to import it. You can add music from your computer or find new music sound from AudioMicro, Vimeo or Free Music Archive online.

video movie maker add audio

After importing the new audio file for your YouTube video, you can now adjust the music volume. In the Music Tools tab, there is an Option tab, you can control the volume and other options about the music.

video movie maker edit music

Step 5: Add Title and Text to Video for YouTube

Windows Movie Maker allows you to add different types of text freely. You will see 3 buttons that allow different types of text to video: stationary title, captions and rolling credits. Click on Title, you can add text before the video begins; select Caption, you will write text to the video frames; and click Credits will add end credits to the end of the video.

 free video movie maker add text

After selecting the type of text you want, you can enter your text and edit the text effects. You can change the text duration and apply text visual effects, and change the text outline size and more.

movie maker for youtube edit text

Check the detailed information of How to Add Text in Windows Movie Maker .

Step 6: Save and Publish

Once all the edits are done, you can save the video by clicking on File then clicking on Publish Movie. You will need to select where you want to save the file and the file type. Since we are editing videos for YouTube, choose YouTube to upload the edited video to YouTube. You can also save the video in computer with different formats, resolution or burn to DVD. Windows Movie Maker also allows you to save the Video for Email or for mobile devices.

movie maker for youtube edit video

Conclusion

That’s it. That’s how you can edit your YouTube video with Windows Movie Maker. It is a great YouTube video editor to make video with various features. However, you may consider other YouTube movie maker as it won’t updated. Why not try Filmora. It is one of the best movie editor for YouTube. Download it now to have a try!

Download Win VersionDownload Mac Version ](https://tools.techidaily.com/wondershare/filmora/download/ )

author avatar

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Also read:

  • Title: [Updated] Enhancing Viewer Interest with Thumbnails
  • Author: Steven
  • Created at : 2024-05-25 20:59:53
  • Updated at : 2024-05-26 20:59:53
  • Link: https://youtube-clips.techidaily.com/updated-enhancing-viewer-interest-with-thumbnails/
  • License: This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.