…insert a movie clip into PowerPoint for Windows?

Answer

Use the “file/insert – Movies and Sounds – Movie from a File” method.

Introduction

"Movies" are desktop video files with formats such as AVI, QuickTime, and MPEG, and file extensions such as .avi, .mov, .qt, .mpg, and .mpeg. Whether your movie file plays in PowerPoint or not depends on your version of Microsoft Windows, your version of Windows Media Player, and the video formats installed on your computer. You’ll have the best luck if your’re using Windows XP and Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003. If your movie clip will not insert or doesn’t play, you will have to convert it to a file format that PowerPoint supports. SEE: How do I convert a movie file so it can be played in PowerPoint?

Step-By-Step

  1. Any movie you "insert" into PowerPoint is really only linked to your presentation; it plays from a location outside the PowerPoint .ppt file and is not a physical part of it. When you insert the file, PowerPoint creates a link to the movie file’s current location. If you later move the movie file to a different location, PowerPoint will not know where to find it when you want the file to play. So how can you make sure that PowerPoint will find your movie file to play it?

    Before you insert the movie file, create a folder and place your PowerPoint Presentation into it. Then place the movie into the same folder as your PowerPoint presentation. Then insert it into a PowerPoint slide. PowerPoint will create a link to it, and it will find the file as long as you keep it in the same folder, even if you move or copy the folder to another computer.

  2. On a Windows computer, open your PowerPoint file and navigate to the slide where you want to the movie to play.
  3. From the File menu, select Insert, then Movies and Sound, then Movie from File. When prompted, choose whether PowerPoint will play the movie automatically or when you click on the image of the Movie.

Resources

Additonal Information: Whether your movie file plays in PowerPoint or not depends on your version of Microsoft Windows, your version of Windows Media Player, and the video formats installed on your computer. Your best bet is using Windows XP and Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003.

  • Movie file types that will import and play in PowerPoint include: .asf, .avi, .m1v, .mpa, .mpe, .mpeg, .mpg, .mpv2, .wmv, .wmz, and .wpl
  • Newer files of these types may not play: .mov, .qt If your movie file type doesn’t play when inserted, you’ll have to convert it to one that does in this case .mpeg. See How do I convert my movie to mpeg.
  • These types (usually ending in “x”) are less reliable because they are pointers to media files, not the files themselves, and the files they point to might not be available to your computer: .asx, .m3u, .wmx, .wvx, and other “linked” file types

Help

For additional information about Movie Files and PowerPoint, contact Learning Resources Center Desk at 924-5521 or sna9e@virginia.edu.