# Why does my computer freeze every time I try to save a Windows Movie Maker file? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 22, 2009, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-my-computer-freeze-every-time-i-try-to-save-a-windows-movie-maker-file/507306 "2009-08-22T14:18:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Stauderhorse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Stauderhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stauderhorse)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2009, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-my-computer-freeze-every-time-i-try-to-save-a-windows-movie-maker-file/507306/1 "2009-08-22T14:18:18Z")
I have recently discovered the joy of BitTorrent and the ability to download things for free. Soon after I started downloading movies, I began to make videos in Windows Movie Maker using said downloaded movies. Essentially, these are just clips from the movie set to a particular song that I think is appropriate or funny or interesting. It’s a lot of fun to make these videos, but I would like to upload them to YouTube or another video-sharing website. The problem is that WMM files can’t be uploaded directly to YouTube, and they have to be saved in a different format. So I click the file tab and hit “Save Movie File” just like the help window on YouTube said. And then…nothing. My computer simply freezes up. I ctrl-alt-del, and have to close the video file. In addition, there is a blue outline of the “Save Movie File” option sitting on my computer screen. It doesn’t bother me, and it goes away if I restart the computer, but that’s still strange. I’ve tried to save WMM files in a different format numerous times, and I always get the same result. So what exactly can I do if I want to save these files as .avi or something similar? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_In\_Black](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@The\_Man\_In\_Black](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_In_Black)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2009, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-my-computer-freeze-every-time-i-try-to-save-a-windows-movie-maker-file/507306/2 "2009-08-22T17:36:23Z")
I have had the same problem, and never found the answer. I hope someone has an idea. ---
**Author:** ![Turble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Turble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turble)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2009, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-my-computer-freeze-every-time-i-try-to-save-a-windows-movie-maker-file/507306/3 "2009-08-23T17:15:47Z")
You are aware that it takes a while to convert a movie, right? You are sure your computer is crashed and not just working on it? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_In\_Black](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@The\_Man\_In\_Black](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_In_Black)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2009, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-my-computer-freeze-every-time-i-try-to-save-a-windows-movie-maker-file/507306/4 "2009-08-23T19:06:48Z")
> [@Turble](#): > > You are aware that it takes a while to convert a movie, right? You are sure your computer is crashed and not just working on it? Mine worked right at first. I was able to make and save movies with no problems. But then it just stoped working. I would hit save, and it would start the save process, but it would get so far and just stop. A few times I left it saving when I went to work. Got home and it was in the same place. ---
**Author:** ![Stauderhorse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Stauderhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stauderhorse)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2009, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-my-computer-freeze-every-time-i-try-to-save-a-windows-movie-maker-file/507306/5 "2009-08-23T20:04:37Z")
Okay, I solved that problem, but a new one came up. I hit Ctrl-P instead of clicking the “Save Movie File” tab, and the file started saving, but then a message came up: > [@](#): > > Windows Movie Maker cannot save the movie to the specified location. Verify that the original source files used in your movie are still available, that the saving location is still available, and that there is enough free disk space available, and then try again. The original files are still there, and the saving location (My Documents) is still there, so I probably don’t have enough free disk space. Crap. Is there anything I can do about that other than deleting a bunch of files from my computer? ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2009, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-my-computer-freeze-every-time-i-try-to-save-a-windows-movie-maker-file/507306/6 "2009-08-23T23:00:01Z")
We had all kinds of problems with Windows Movie Maker. Switched to Adobe Elements and that works great.