How to Add Music To Video Using Movie Maker

(The above video is an example of a Lego stop motion animation created by a ten year old).

Launch Windows Movie Maker (WMM). In this example, WMM version 2.1 was used in the Windows XP Pro operating system. Select File in the main menu of WMM and select "New Project" to get a clean workspace in WMM. (It will not be cleared until the next step, unfortunately).

Import your video file. Select File in the main menu of WMM. Select "Import Into Collections". Click on the video file you want to import and click the "import" button. In this example, a video of a Lego character in a boat is used.

WMM with video and music imported in the workspace

Import your music file. Select File in the main menu of WMM. Select "Import Into Collections". Click on the music file you want to import and click the "import" button. In this example, the mp3 file, "Fantasia In D Minor, K. 397 - Adagio" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was choosen because it is a public domain file and not copyright material. Using copyright material in this article would result in legal problems.

Select and drag the video object into the video track at the bottom of the WMM window. You will notice that an audio track appears with the video. If you don't need this audio track, select it and do a right click with the mouse. Select "mute".

WMM workspace with video and music in the editing tracks

Select and drag the music object into the video editing track at the bottom of the WMM window. It will end up in the audio/music track below the muted audio track.

Editing track with timeline moved to the right

In this example, the music track is way longer than the video track. Drag the blue timeline from the left to the end of the video.

Splitting the clip button

To clip the music track, go to the right and click on the Splitting the Clip button. Select the extra music at the right of the timeline. Do a right click and select delete to remove the extra music.