There may come a time when you're looking for a way to combine multiple MPG files into one larger movie file.  One example would be if you need to string together a series of home movies into one larger file, without hassling with a video editing program.  There are many other situations where this would come in useful, too!

Finding A Solution

If you do a Google search for how to do this, you'll come up with a lot of programs that might be able to help you... but many of them are either crippled, costly, or questionable.

After thinking about it for a while, I knew I could do something like this with Windows Movie Maker - but that was going to be a bit of a chore, too.  I would have to import each file, configure outputs, etc., etc.

So, I dug back into my old DOS userbrain and remembered that I could use the good old "Copy" command to combine files.  I did this, and I was all set!  No program to download, no fiddling with Movie Maker stuff, just plain old "add this file to this file" stuff.  :)

A Better Way: How To Do It By Using DOS Commands

If you have 2 or more MPG files that you want to combine, simply go to your Windows Start menu, and select  "Start > Run."  Click on it, and type in CMD.  You will then be presented with a new window.

Then, go to the directory that holds the files that you want to combine.  If you don't know, or are not familiar with basic DOS commands that Windows can utilize, see here for a good listing on how to do this and what they all mean.  

Once you are in the directory (or "folder," as Windows likes to call it) you can simply run the copy program and combine the files.

Type in "Copy" and then "/b"  (The "b" command tells it to use Binary mode, very important!) After this, type in the names of the MPG files that you want to combine with a "+" (plus) sign after each one.  It's imperative that you type in the file names of your MPG files in the order that you want them combined. Then, enter the name that you would like the combined file to be called.

In my case, I had 4 MPG video files I wanted to combine.  I typed in the following command:

copy /b 1.mpg + 2.mpg + 3.mpg + 4.mpg mymovie.mpg

After it was done copying, I now had the four MPG files all combined into one video file.  Be forewarned that this could take a long time, depending on the size of the files you are trying to combine.

You should be able to use this method with any MPG file without any issues - and with no programs to buy and learn how to use, no messing around - just plain, old school DOS commands!

If you have any questions on this, please send me a message.

Read My Blog At SansaCommunity.com!