"This File Cannot Be Imported" Error Message May Be Displayed in Windows Movie Maker (283374)

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Microsoft Windows XP Professional

This article was previously published under Q283374

SYMPTOMS

In Windows XP, when you attempt to import multimedia files into Microsoft Windows Movie Maker version 1.1, you may receive the following error message:

This file cannot be imported. Make sure that it is a valid file type and that its contents have not been corrupted.

CAUSE

This problem can occur if your computer does not have the proper coder/decoder (codec) installed to play back the multimedia file in Windows Movie Maker.

RESOLUTION

To work around this problem, attempt to open the file in Microsoft Windows Media Player for Windows XP to observe if the codec can be downloaded for the file. If the codec downloads successfully in Windows Media Player for Windows XP, the file can be imported.

If the file had been encoded on another computer that has a proprietary codec installed, install the software or codec on the computer that is experiencing the problem or download the proper codec from the manufacturer.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

Modification Type:	Minor	Last Reviewed:	1/27/2006
Keywords:	kberrmsg kbprb KB283374