diff --git a/BizHawk.MultiClient/MainForm.cs b/BizHawk.MultiClient/MainForm.cs
index bc570a5e42..a07321932e 100644
--- a/BizHawk.MultiClient/MainForm.cs
+++ b/BizHawk.MultiClient/MainForm.cs
@@ -1284,6 +1284,8 @@ namespace BizHawk.MultiClient
 
 			else if (MovieImport.IsValidMovieExtension(Path.GetExtension(filePaths[0])))
 			{
+				//tries to open a legacy movie format as if it were a BKM, by importing it
+
 				if (CurrentlyOpenRom == null)
 					OpenROM();
 				else
@@ -1298,6 +1300,11 @@ namespace BizHawk.MultiClient
 				}
 				else
 				{
+					//fix movie extension to something palatable for these purposes. 
+					//for instance, something which doesnt clobber movies you already may have had.
+					//i'm evenly torn between this, and a file in %TEMP%, but since we dont really have a way to clean up this tempfile, i choose this:
+					m.Filename += ".autoimported." + Global.Config.MovieExtension;
+					m.WriteMovie();
 					StartNewMovie(m, false);
 				}
 				Global.OSD.AddMessage(warningMsg);
@@ -4080,26 +4087,30 @@ namespace BizHawk.MultiClient
 
 			foreach (string fn in ofd.FileNames)
 			{
-				var file = new FileInfo(fn);
-				string d = PathManager.MakeAbsolutePath(Global.Config.MoviesPath, "");
-				string errorMsg = "";
-				string warningMsg = "";
-				Movie m = MovieImport.ImportFile(fn, out errorMsg, out warningMsg);
-				if (errorMsg.Length > 0)
-					MessageBox.Show(errorMsg, "Conversion error", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error);
-				if (warningMsg.Length > 0)
-					Global.OSD.AddMessage(warningMsg);
-				else
-					Global.OSD.AddMessage(Path.GetFileName(fn) + " imported as " + "Movies\\" +
-										  Path.GetFileName(fn) + "." + Global.Config.MovieExtension);
-				if (!Directory.Exists(d))
-					Directory.CreateDirectory(d);
-				File.Copy(fn + "." + Global.Config.MovieExtension, d + "\\" + Path.GetFileName(fn) + "." + Global.Config.MovieExtension, true);
-				File.Delete(fn + "." + Global.Config.MovieExtension);
+				ProcessMovieImport(fn);
 			}
 		}
 
+		void ProcessMovieImport(string fn)
+		{
+			var file = new FileInfo(fn);
+			string d = PathManager.MakeAbsolutePath(Global.Config.MoviesPath, "");
+			string errorMsg = "";
+			string warningMsg = "";
+			Movie m = MovieImport.ImportFile(fn, out errorMsg, out warningMsg);
+			if (errorMsg.Length > 0)
+				MessageBox.Show(errorMsg, "Conversion error", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error);
+			if (warningMsg.Length > 0)
+				Global.OSD.AddMessage(warningMsg);
+			else
+				Global.OSD.AddMessage(Path.GetFileName(fn) + " imported as " + "Movies\\" +
+										Path.GetFileName(fn) + "." + Global.Config.MovieExtension);
+			if (!Directory.Exists(d))
+				Directory.CreateDirectory(d);
 
+			string outPath = d + "\\" + Path.GetFileName(fn) + "." + Global.Config.MovieExtension;
+			m.WriteMovie(outPath);
+		}
 
 		// workaround for possible memory leak in SysdrawingRenderPanel
 		RetainedViewportPanel captureosd_rvp;
diff --git a/BizHawk.MultiClient/movie/Movie.cs b/BizHawk.MultiClient/movie/Movie.cs
index 5a90255759..9293368ddc 100644
--- a/BizHawk.MultiClient/movie/Movie.cs
+++ b/BizHawk.MultiClient/movie/Movie.cs
@@ -307,6 +307,41 @@ namespace BizHawk.MultiClient
 
 		#region Public File Handling
 
+		public void WriteMovie(Stream stream)
+		{
+			if (!Loaded)
+			{
+				return;
+			}
+
+			Directory.CreateDirectory(new FileInfo(Filename).Directory.FullName);
+			if (IsText)
+			{
+				WriteText(stream);
+			}
+			else
+			{
+				WriteBinary(stream);
+			}
+		}
+
+		public void WriteMovie(string path)
+		{
+			if (!Loaded)
+			{
+				return;
+			}
+			Directory.CreateDirectory(new FileInfo(Filename).Directory.FullName);
+			if (IsText)
+			{
+				WriteText(Filename);
+			}
+			else
+			{
+				WriteBinary(Filename);
+			}
+		}
+
 		public void WriteMovie()
 		{
 			if (!Loaded)
@@ -317,16 +352,8 @@ namespace BizHawk.MultiClient
 			{
 				return;
 			}
-			
-			Directory.CreateDirectory(new FileInfo(Filename).Directory.FullName);
-			if (IsText)
-			{
-				WriteText(Filename);
-			}
-			else
-			{
-				WriteBinary(Filename);
-			}
+
+			WriteMovie(Filename);
 		}
 
 		public void WriteBackup()
@@ -851,31 +878,40 @@ namespace BizHawk.MultiClient
 
 		#region Helpers
 
-		private void WriteText(string file)
+		private void WriteText(string fn)
 		{
-			if (file.Length > 0)
+			using (var fs = new FileStream(fn, FileMode.Create, FileAccess.Write, FileShare.Read))
+				WriteText(fs);
+		}
+
+		private void WriteBinary(string fn)
+		{
+			using (var fs = new FileStream(fn, FileMode.Create, FileAccess.Write, FileShare.Read))
+				WriteBinary(fs);
+		}
+
+
+		private void WriteText(Stream stream)
+		{
+			int length = Log.Length;
+
+			using (StreamWriter sw = new StreamWriter(stream))
 			{
-				int length = Log.Length;
+				Header.WriteText(sw);
 
-				using (StreamWriter sw = new StreamWriter(file))
+				//TODO: clean this up
+				if (LoopOffset >= 0)
 				{
-					Header.WriteText(sw);
-
-					//TODO: clean this up
-					if (LoopOffset >= 0)
-					{
-						sw.WriteLine("LoopOffset " + LoopOffset.ToString());
-					}
-
-					Subtitles.WriteText(sw);
-					Log.WriteText(sw);
+					sw.WriteLine("LoopOffset " + LoopOffset.ToString());
 				}
+
+				Subtitles.WriteText(sw);
+				Log.WriteText(sw);
 			}
 		}
 
-		private void WriteBinary(string file)
+		private void WriteBinary(Stream stream)
 		{
-
 		}
 
 		private bool LoadText()
diff --git a/BizHawk.MultiClient/movie/MovieImport.cs b/BizHawk.MultiClient/movie/MovieImport.cs
index 206950fb8c..96ec251099 100644
--- a/BizHawk.MultiClient/movie/MovieImport.cs
+++ b/BizHawk.MultiClient/movie/MovieImport.cs
@@ -84,7 +84,6 @@ namespace BizHawk.MultiClient
 				if (errorMsg == "")
 				{
 					m.Header.SetHeaderLine(MovieHeader.MOVIEVERSION, MovieHeader.MovieVersion);
-					m.WriteMovie();
 				}
 			}
 			catch (Exception except)