Template:Infobox Windows component Windows DVD Maker is an application included in premium editions (Home Premium and Ultimate) of Windows Vista, and Windows 7 Home Premium and above editions that is designed to enable the creation of DVD movies that can be played using DVD playback software or on a standalone consumer DVD player. In some ways, it is comparable to iDVD in Mac OS X.

Applications can pass an XML file to DVD Maker, thus using its MPEG-2 video and Dolby Digital audio encoding abilities in their own applications.

Windows DVD Maker has a simple Aero Wizard-style user interface. The first step of the wizard involves importing video files from the computer's file system. The videos can be rearranged to play in a different order, and Windows DVD Maker automatically splits the videos into scenes that can be accessed from a special Scene Selection page in the DVD menu system.

In the next step, various animated DVD menu styles can be applied. Many of these are similar to the transition effects available in Windows Movie Maker. Users can also customise the font and button styles. Windows DVD Maker can also add a slide show of pictures with a musical accompaniment and transition effects.

The application can also 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 using the arrow buttons (mimicking the action of using a DVD player remote control).

Windows DVD Maker is designed to encode video as a "below normal" priority background process to ensure the computer remains responsive during the burn process. By design this feature puts the program at the back of the line among user mode applications. This can be circumvented using the Windows Task Manager to adjust the priority.^[1]

• Features new to Windows Vista

• Windows DVD Maker – Product information from Microsoft
• Forum based help for Windows DVD Maker