Windows 7: How to change the icons of movie files?

Sorry for the stupid question but how do you give the image a squarish shape ? What exactly did you do ?

I did ....

1. I opened the image in Photoshop,
2. unlocked the image layer*,
3. checked the width and height of the image, changed the Canvas Size of the image ... changed the height of the canvas equal to the width,
4. nudged the image to get the required view within the canvas area (* it cannot be done if step 2 is not done)
5. saved the image as .jpeg

And that all.

It can be done in GIMP too.

Thanks.

That helps a lot.

You are welcome, mate. Please let us know for any further question.

Add an Icon or Thumbnail "into" a mp4 movie file.
No shortcut creation, no folder for each video...
It takes some time per file, but this technique works, Really!

It requires merging two video files into one file.
First file is a 20 second movie of the icon (icon.mp4).
Second file is the movie.mp4
Then convert the two files, icon.mp4 first, into one file.
I use WinAVI (but it has sound delay issues, sometimes)

The Icon shows up in the directory, every time, permanently, even if you share it.

Why like this?
Windows used to use the first frame (frame #1) to give this thumbnail option.
Now windows seems to look for an increase of luminescence at the beginning of the video,
(as in a fade in from black).
Then windows selects that seemingly random frame as the file's icon.

There are three options I use for the icon.mp4 file's success:
1) Use a 20 second mp4 of the icon (recommend the same frame size as movie.mp4)
2) Use a 20 second mp4 of the icon, but fade in from black. (pretty cool)
3) Produce an interesting 20 second clip from the movie that fades in, with sound. (way cooler)

Then of course, merge the two mp4 files into one using your favorite movie compiler. Voilà!

I have three icon.mp4 examples here (provided Paramount doesn't remove them; it's happened before):
Star Trek First Contact 1996 AiKoN (Example 1) - YouTube
Star Trek First Contact 1996 AiKoN (Example 2) - YouTube
Star Trek First Contact 1996 AiKoN (Example 3) - YouTube

I used to use this for MP3 files and I think it also works for MP4 also..
Check it out if you like: Mp3tag - the universal Tag Editor (ID3v2, MP4, OGG, FLAC, ...)

Try this...I used to use it for MP3 and I think it also works for MP4.
Mp3tag - the universal Tag Editor (ID3v2, MP4, OGG, FLAC, ...)