You have four choices when publishing a movie in Windows 7 using Windows Live Movie Maker. These choices determine how the final product will be saved. If you want your friends to be able to view your movie, you need to convert it into a format they can use.
By default, when you save your finished movie project, Windows Live Movie Maker stores the movie as a Windows Live Movie project (.WLMP) — which can be watched only in Windows Live Movie Maker. To make it viewable by others, you need to publish it to another format.
Using WLMM you can publish your movies four ways:
Give your friend a WLMP file. Your friend will need to have WLMM installed on her PC and be running either Windows Vista or Windows 7.
To turn your project into a WLMP file, simply save the project.
Turn your movie into a WMV file. Your friend can view the WMV file in Windows Media Player (or any box that plays WMV files).
To turn your project into a WMV file, on the Home tab, click the Output icon and choose either Windows Media DVD Quality (uses 640 x 480 resolution for Windows Media Player) or Windows Media Portable Device (uses 320 x 240 resolution for MP4 players).
If you originally recorded your clips using a high-definition camera, you’ll probably be disappointed in the video quality of the WMV file. It just doesn’t compare.
Turn your project into a DVD. Your friend can view the movie in any DVD player.
To turn your project into a DVD, you must first save the file as a WMV file. Then open Windows DVD Maker and select the WMV file to burn as a DVD.
Publish your project directly to the Internet. Your friend will be able to find your film on whichever social video sharing Web site you choose.
To publish your project to the Web, open the project and click Publish. There are a couple of built-in options, including Soapbox, which is Microsoft’s version of You Tube. Make your Web selection and follow the onscreen instructions.
Fortunately, plugins are available that let you publish directly to all the well-known video sites: YouTube, Flickr, and the like. One popular plugin is LiveUpload to YouTube.
