How to merge video files?

How do you merge video files in windows live movie maker for windows 7. I used to be able to do it in the old one I had for XP but I can't find the option in windows 7.

 

Here use the Old windows Movie Maker in an edition compatible for Win7..It works exacty like in XP:

Download details: Windows Movie Maker 2.6

Windows Movie Maker 2.6 available for Vista, Windows 7

 

I've read some of the comments on the second link you gave me and it doesn't sound like a good program.

 

In your original post you said that you had used it on your XP's....Maybe I didn't make myself clear.It's the exact Movie Maker that was in XP.I have it in my notebook(WIN7) and it is the old trusted XP Movie Maker.It certainly can merge files...

 

Oh I thought it was a modified version. And reading some of those comments made it seem that way too me. But if its the exact same one as XP, then thank you for your help!

+rep

 

If the videos are identical (frame rate, codec, resolution. aka recorded from the same source just broken into pieces)

I have a alternative for you.

You can append them together with MKVMerge where it will add the files back to back inside a .mkv container.

The reason this is more desirable is that the video clips are unaltered from there original form and just placed in a new container.

This means in layman's, no recoding of the video file so no loss in quality, it also means it will take seconds to do rather than the minutes/hours required to recode a video.

So if the thread title is true to what you need this is the ultimate way to simply merge multiple video clips.

If your using an editor that is not really merging, that is recomposing.


MKVToolnix is the binarys you need just get the windows installer and look for the MKVMergeGUI shortcut that will show up after you install it to have the GUI do the appending for you.

Download - http://www.bunkus.org/videotools/mkvtoolnix/

A simple guide I found on google if you need help - http://www.hack7mc.com/2009/03/merge-multiple-part-videos-into-single.html

The only important thing is to use Append for the additional files and add them in the order you want them to join. If you use the Add button to add the extra clips it will instead create a video with multiple video/audio tracks (think dual audio dvd)

 

It depends on what kind of video files they are... But Movie Maker will definitely make it worse quality of some sort while Vicious' way is the best.

 

Thanks I'm going to try this now. The reason I asked is because I want to combine multiple videos to put them on a DVD-R and play them on my DVD player. When I didn't combine them, it would pause for a couple seconds while going to the next video.

And yes all the videos are from one camera, its just the camera split the files up and I don't know why. And about the very last sentence in your post, would this dual audio dvd improve anything?

EDIT: After merging how do I burn it to play on a DVD player?

 

You have to author a fine for use on a stand alone DVD player, it has to be in a MPEG2 format and have standard DVD authoring.

You cant simply play a file on DVD it will have to be encoded/converted to those DVD standards.

The easiest way to do this for free is with a program called DVDFlick. Just add your file and it will do the rest for you.

Quality will be lost in the conversion especially if its HD since DVD players do not play or handle HD content.

 

So all I have to do is convert the file mkvtoolnix outputted using DVDFlick to convert to dvd format?

 

When I try converting using DVDFlick I get an error saying the video could not be encoded

 

Its the codec used or just because you appended the files.

What codec is your video using?

Try to just put one file in before you merge them to test if the appending is the problem.