Windows DVD Maker

Windows DVD Maker is a discontinued DVD authoring application that was initially introduced in Windows Vista as an included app in the Home Premium and Ultimate editions and was also included in Windows 7 in the Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate editions. (Except for Starter and Home Basic SKUs.)

It allows users to create slideshows and videos and burn them to a DVD for playback on media devices like DVD and Blu-ray players. In Windows Vista, it was heavily integrated with other media applications like Windows Movie Maker, Windows Media Center, Windows Media Player and Windows Photo Gallery for certain features.

It received a minor user interface face-lift in Windows 7, otherwise the functionality of the app is largely similar to the Vista version.

Windows DVD Maker was removed entirely in Windows 8 and later due to the removal of built-in DVD playback support and the wide availability of third-party DVD authoring applications.

Features
Windows DVD Maker features a simple user interface, which takes the user through the process of creating the DVD. The first step involves importing video files, arranging them to play in proper order. Windows DVD Maker automatically splits the videos into scenes that can be accessed from a special scene selection page in the DVD menu. In the next step, animated DVD menus can be added to the compilation. Windows DVD Maker can also add a slide show of pictures with a musical accompaniment and transition effects. Users can also customize the font and button styles. The application can show an interactive preview of what the DVD will look and act like when it has been burned. For example, users can navigate the DVD menus, testing them.

Windows DVD Maker is designed to encode video as an background process with reduced scheduling priority to ensure the computer remains responsive during the compilation process.