By default, Windows ME, Windows XP, and Windows Vista include Windows Movie Maker (WMM) for creating and editing home videos. In Windows 7, it became a separate part of the Windows Live Essentials suite. The latest version was released in 2012 as Windows Movie Maker 2012 for Windows 7, 8 and 8.1.
Depending on your version of Windows, you may or may not be able to burn WMV file to DVD from WMM. Windows Vista and Windows 7 included the free Windows DVD Maker program, which was unfortunately removed in Windows 8. Using Windows DVD Maker, you can burn a WMV file to DVD directly from Windows Movie Maker.
If you are using Windows 8 or Windows XP, you will need a different set of tools to burn the WMV file as a playable DVD. In this article, I will introduce a program called DVD Flick It is a free DVD maker that will let you shoot videos of almost any format and burn them to DVD with minimal effort.
Burn WMV with Windows DVD Maker
The easiest way to get this job done is to use Windows DVD Maker if you are using Windows Vista or Windows 7. There are actually two ways to do this. If you haven’t started editing videos together yet, you can use Windows Movie Maker to create and edit your movie.
Once you’re done editing, you simply click the Save Movie button and the Burn DVD option appears there.
You will not see this option in Windows 8 or Windows XP as it does not have Windows DVD Maker software installed. If you already have a WMV file and just want to burn it to a playable DVD, you can open Windows DVD Maker directly.
You will see a welcome screen where you can click Select Photos and Videos and then simply click Add to add movie files to your DVD. The bottom will show how much time is left on the DVD and you can also change the title of the DVD. You can also click Options and change the video format, playback settings, aspect ratio and recording rate.
Click Next and choose a menu style for your DVD. You can customize the menu and change the menu text. You can also click the Preview button to see what the menu will look like before burning the DVD.
That’s all. Now just hit “Burn” and you’re done. When using WMM and Windows DVD Maker together, it is very easy to burn a WMV file. Now let’s talk about another scenario.
Burn WMV with DVD Flick
DVD Flick is a great little utility to create playable DVDs for almost any video file. It is very easy to use and contains no malware, spyware or unwanted software. After you download it and install it, the main screen will appear asking you if you would like to read the manual before getting started. It’s best to read the manual once before starting.
By default, the program starts with a new unnamed project, which is stored in the Documents folder. First, you need to click on “Add Title”. The title is a little confusing as most people tend to think that titles in a video are the sections at the very beginning and end of a movie, but here it is any video file you want to add to your project.
After you add videos, they will appear in the main area, and a small progress bar on the far left will show you how much space you have left on the DVD. Once you’ve added all the videos, click on Project Settings.
On the General tab, you basically want to give your project a name and also choose an appropriate target size. By default, this is a standard one-sided size of 4.3 GB. The rest can be left alone.
On the Video tab, you want to select the target format (NTSC or PAL) and encoding type. I would leave everything else here except the formatting option.
Finally, under the Burn tab, you need to check the Burn compilation to disc box, assign a label to your DVD, and select your DVD drive. You can also check and eject the disc after burning. If you do not check the Burn to Disc checkbox, the program will only create the AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS folders on the hard drive, but not write them to the disc.
From the main screen, click “Create DVD” to start the DVD creation process. You will see a pop-up dialog with information about the progress of encoding video, audio, adding subtitles, etc.
The burning process should start automatically after it finishes, so make sure you already have a DVD in your drive. You can also go to the project folder and you should see the above folder created for your DVD.
You can also save the project if you want to burn it again or edit it later. There are many other functions in the program, which I will not go into details about, but I will just mention. The website also has a great guide that covers everything. When you add a video, you can click Edit Title to add additional audio, create chapters, add subtitles, change thumbnail images, attach video files, and more.
Finally, click on Menu Settings to customize the DVD menu that will appear when you first start the DVD.
You should now have all the tools you need to easily create DVD from your WMV video files or any video file for that matter. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to comment. Enjoy!
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