The Top 10 Windows Movie Maker Alternative 2020
Why is Windows Movie Maker Discontinued?
- Windows Movie Maker discontinued because with the introduction of Windows 8, Microsoft introduced a new interface called Windows Runtime and get rid of the old win32 programming interface. Windows Movie Maker was written to this old Win32 interface.
- Continuation fo Windows Movie Maker makes no business sense. Back then when it was introduced, there was no movie shooting smartphones that can edit the video most of the time. The target audience was standalone digital camcorder users. Now people shoot video and edit on the smartphone itself. So Microsoft stopped allocating its investment in free consumer digital media tools.
- Microsoft is now more focused on cloud-based services and OS development. Windows Movie Maker was never a revenue generator for them. To make it compete with Adobe Premier Pro of Sony Vegas, it needed more resources. The last update faced a lot of criticism from the user base. So it was hard but the decision was needed to take sooner or later.
10 Best Alternatives to Windows Movie Maker
- ApowerEdit
- VideoPadVideo Editor
- VSDC Video Editor
- Shotcut
- Videoproc
- Avidemux
- Ezvid
- Microsoft Photos
- VirtualDub
- VideoLan
ApowerEdit: the Best Windows Movie Maker Alternative

- Interactive interface
- Online & Desktop version
- Audio & video effects
- Drag & drop timeline view
- Lots of filters and functions
- Cropping, cutting, and splitting option
- More than one editing tracks can be started
- No created to replace Adobe Premiere Pro or Sony Vegas
- Fewer elements
VideoPad Video Editor

- Video & audion editing & mixing
- Unlimited editing tracks
- No built-in theme or templates
- You cant create an automatic video or slideshow project
- Annoying watermarks unless you pay
VSDC Video Editor

- Supports 4k output
- Lightweight software
- Video preview option is not available in the timeline
- 3D & multi-cam no supported
- A big screen asking you to pay every time you open
Shotcut

- Lots of features
- Supports most of the output formats you need
- Very few transition options
- 3D not supported
- Not free software
Videoproc

- Supports 4k resolution
- Money-back guarantee if you don’t like it after the trial
- Not enough features
- 30 days of free trial after that you need to pay
Avidemux

- Open source and free
- Cut, filter, and encode features
- Available for multiple OS platforms
- Limited features
- Not for professional or semi-professional needs
Ezvid

- Screen Recording feature
- Very easy to use
- Certain editing features are not available
- More suitable for screen recording than video editing
Microsoft Photos

- User friendly like the Windows Movie Maker
- Automatic album creation
- Simple interface
- Tagging is not allowed
- Multi-track timelines no available
- Selective focus is also not available
VirtualDub

- Open-source software
- Simple and easy to use interface
- Very few features
- Only .avi output support means you need another tool to convert it
VideoLan

- Using VideoLan, you can work on images, videos & audios
- Simple interface
- Several features available
- It's laggy, unstable and you will find many bugs
- It crashes if you start heavy projects
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