Questions and answers

A free movie maker that runs in your browser. It runs the classic 1995 3D Movie Maker, the original program with its original actors, sets, sounds and music, compiled for a browser tab. Pick a set, cast actors, make them walk and talk, add music, sound effects, your own voice and 3D titles, and play back your movie.

Yes, the same program. In 2022 Microsoft released the source code and content of 3D Movie Maker as open source. The community project 3DMMEx modernized that code, and Low Poly Pictures compiles it for the web. It isn't a remake: the engine is the 1995 one, so movies look and play the way they did then. Low Poly Pictures is an independent project and isn't affiliated with or endorsed by Microsoft.

It's free, with no ads, no account and nothing to buy. There's no catch: the code and content are open source, and hosting a website like this costs very little.

It's built on what Microsoft released as open source: in 2022 it published the program's source code and content under the MIT License, which allows anyone to use, change and share them as long as the copyright notice is kept. Every license is listed on our Licenses page.

No. Open the studio and press Start. The first visit downloads about 30 MB into your browser; after that it starts quickly.

Yes. It runs in current versions of Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari on Windows 10 and 11, macOS, ChromeOS and Linux, with no compatibility settings. More options, including a desktop app, in running it on Windows 11, Mac and Chromebook.

It opens there, but the studio was made for a mouse, so it's much easier on a computer with a mouse or trackpad. On a phone, turn it sideways for a bigger picture.

Low Poly Pictures is browser-only. If you want a program on your computer, the free, open-source 3DMMEx project has builds for Windows and Apple Silicon Macs. Movies work in both.

Yes. Movies are .3mm files; the 1995 program usually kept them in a Microsoft Kids folder, under Users. In the studio, open the Portfolio, choose Open, then Open from your computer… and pick the file. Movies that only used the original actors and sets play just as they did. Step by step.

They use the same .3mm file format as the 1995 program and 3DMMEx. Use Download movie to get the file.

In your browser, on your own computer. Nothing is uploaded, and we never see your movies. A recovery copy of the movie you're working on is kept too, so closing the tab by accident doesn't lose your work. Browsers can clear their storage (for example when the disk is full), so use Download movie to keep copies of movies that matter.

Yes, something the 1995 program never could. Press Export below the studio and choose a video (MP4 or WebM depending on your browser, with sound) or an animated GIF, in sizes from 544 × 306 up to 2176 × 1224. The movie plays once while it's recorded, so it takes as long as the movie.

Yes. The Speech and Sound Effects browsers have a microphone button (your browser asks for permission first) and an Import button for sound files from your computer, and the Music browser can import MIDI files. Recordings are stored inside your movie, on your computer.

Not yet: nothing is shared or published from the site. Export a video and share that, or send the .3mm file. If sharing is added later, it will come with its own rules for younger users, announced on the privacy page first.

The original was a Microsoft Kids program, and it stays safe here: no account, no chat, no ads, no trackers, and nothing your kids make is uploaded or shown to anyone. The microphone is only used when they record, after the browser asks. More in for parents and on the privacy page.

Anyone who can use a mouse. Younger kids love choosing actors and recording voices with a grown-up's help; older kids can run the whole studio on their own. Grown-ups who used it in the 90s tend to get hooked again.

McZee, the host who greets you at the ticket booth and shows you around. He was voiced by Michael Shapiro, who later voiced the G-Man in Half-Life. His assistant Melanie runs the step-by-step projects. More history.

The program is: the 3D Theater with its ticket booth and backstage, the studio, all 45 actors, 21 props, 12 sets with 188 camera angles, nearly 400 sound effects, 300 music clips, 3D words and the sample movies. The full-motion video clips from the CD (such as the intro) aren't played in the browser version.

Movies run at six frames per second, as in 1995: that's the famous slightly jerky look. Low Poly Pictures draws the 3D actors sharper on modern screens by default; switch off the HD options in Settings for the exact 1995 picture, or turn on the TV look for scanlines.

No. Windows Movie Maker was a video editor for your own clips. 3D Movie Maker (1995) is an animation program: you make movies with 3D actors and sets.

Microsoft released 3D Movie Maker in the fall of 1995, for Windows. It published the source code and content as open source in May 2022. Low Poly Pictures put it in the browser in October 2026. The whole story.

Low Poly Pictures is an independent project, built on the work of Microsoft's original team and the 3DMMEx and 3DMMForever communities. See the About page for credits and contact. It isn't affiliated with or endorsed by Microsoft.

"Low poly" is the chunky, low-polygon 3D look of the 1990s; "Pictures" as in a film studio. A Low Poly Pictures production, starring your actors.

Yes. The browser version of the engine is open source under the MIT License; links and the materials for the music library are on the Source code page.