Windows Movie Maker Error- Not enough memory

Anonymous
2013-01-20T07:29:26+00:00

Whenever I try to save one of my movies a little bit into the save process it stops and says I do not have enough memory try again with a lower resolution. I've tried every resolution and bit rate and it still doesnt work. I am almost positive its not my computer hardware. I have a 3rd Gen i7 (1.9GHz), 8 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD (90 GB Free), and Intel HD 4000 Graphics. The movie when saved should be no more than 200 MB so i don't know what the problem is. If I can use a full Autodesk/AutoCAD suite to make parts and do 3D renderings, im sure my computer should be able to handle a slideshow of stills.

Original title: Windows Movie Maker Error- Not enough disk space

Windows for home | Other | Music, photos, and video

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Anonymous
2014-10-20T20:10:27+00:00

Error:

Movie Maker

There isn’t enough memory available to save this file. Try saving it at a lower resolution.

I am using Movie Maker 2012 with Windows 7 Professional on an HP Pavilion dv6 notebook with 4 gigs of memory and an Intel Q720 processor at 1.6 Ghz.

My videos are .MOV files from a Canon PowerShot SX260 HS camera.

This error has occurred several times on several projects. The projects are saved and the error is replicable each time I tried to save the move in High Resolution (HD: 1920x1080). The error occurs at the same percentage on the progress bar, upon replication of the problem. Increasing the size of the Windows swap file makes no difference. While the movie is being rendered (before the error occurs) Task Manager shows CPU use at 80%+ and the memory use increases nearly linearly with time until 4 gigs are used. Then the memory use stays at 4 gigs, the CPU drops to near 0, and after a few minutes the error appears. The movies can be saved successfully at “Computer” resolution (854x480) and the memory use never went above 1.55 GB.

I can repeat the error with a single .MOV video of length 47 seconds. I saved the project with just this single video. The error is replicable with this long video at 26% complete. I then split that video, without shortening the total video, using the Split edit command. The movie can now be saved. To clarify, I did not shorten or edit the video, except to add a split at the 21 second point.  The movie renders successfully from this split video, and the memory use never went above 1.55 GB.

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  1. Anonymous
    2015-04-23T00:47:02+00:00

    Movie Maker is intended to be used for putting together photos and videos into a movie. When photos are used, the expected use is in a slideshow type movie where a photo is displayed for a few seconds.

    While it should be possible to get each image to display for a fraction of a second (e.g. 1/30 second to get 30 fps), that seems to overwhelm Movie Maker.

    Whenever I need to deal with timelapse sequences (or computer renderings), I use other software for turning the image sequence into a video. And then I do any further video editing in Movie Maker. One common solution I've seen, for those that use Google Picasa for organizing their photos, is to select the photos in there and use the "Create Movie" option. One of the choices is a timelapse output. There are other tools too, so feel free to look around for what works best for you.

    But again, I'm sorry that Movie Maker is getting overwhelmed.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-06-21T02:14:02+00:00

    Hello marlowharris,

    Welcome to Microsoft Community Forum. I understand that you're having the same issue as the first poster about not having enough memory. I will assist you on your inquiry.

    Within this issue, there can be multiple factors that can contribute to this issue. It is either:

    • The latest version of Movie Maker is not fully compatible on your computer
    • Insufficient codecs or outdated video card driver

    Please follow the steps provided by moderator Francis_S on January 22, 2013 for initial troubleshooting purposes. In case the issue persist, please follow this workaround. Close Movie Maker, then open it without opening your vides/photos. On the lower right side of the screen, you'll see a slidebar. Zoom in the slider up until it is maxed out, then, load your files. You need to keep the slider maxed out in Zoom in then try to save the video file.

    Let us know the results afterwards.

    Thank you.

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-01-25T16:25:02+00:00

    The key is probably in this statement in Francis_S's reply:

    Note: If you can't find the codec you need you may convert the video to a supported format (eg. wmv) and then add it to your Movie Maker project.

    My theory is that the file types you are using are causing problems for Movie Maker.  The simplest way to fix this, apart from fiddling with potential codec conflicts, is to just convert your video files so they are all .wmv format.  You might want to also turn your audio files into .wma format.  Freemake.com has a pair of converters that do this very well, so consider doing a test conversion with the files in one of your projects.

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