iMovie '09: error - 2125 at preparing a project

Your project is too big. Use Final Cut Pro or Final Cut Express for theatrical length movies. iMovie 09 is more for consumers doing home video.

Hi, I had similar problems with the same error message except "-48" instead of the 2125. Does anyone know what the different number codes mean? Does this mean my project is too long? Right now it is 1:21:45. i have cut out about all that I can but would try more if I am close. Or is a -48 a different problem altogether. Thanks.

My project is 41:36:13, and I got the -2125 error message twice while trying to export from iMovie 09 through Share>Export Using QuickTime and then setting the advanced menus to get an uncompressed file. Earlier today I used Share>iDVD, and the export worked without a problem, but I had to go back and add chapters to my iMovie Project and read that the Share>iDVD produced less than best quality, so was trying to keep quality as high as possible. I also added one Title. Otherwise, the project that exported and the one that didn't were the same. Somewhere there should be a key to the error codes. Help!

An update to my question: I found a couple of old posts saying you can't have a chapter marker in QT within one second of the start of a sequence, which, I think in my case is the start of my iMovie. I moved my chapter marker that was at the very beginning to about 1.5 seconds from the start and still got the -2125 error, so am going to try deleting it.

I'm getting this same error message as well with a 33 minute movie. That hardly seems excessively long. I'm wondering if this would have happened if I hadn't upgraded to '09 yesterday. Now it works on the movie for 3 hrs and when it gets to the last 2 minutes, I get the OSStatus error -2125 message as well. Very annoyed!

Hi, kidscientist,

I solved my -2125 problem after reading a post on another blog somewhere. According to the post, this problem is not specific to iMovie. It is a QuickTime issue and is also found in other movie software where exports are made to QT files. If you have chapter markers, go to iM09 and use the slide at the bottom to break your film into 1second blocks. Make sure you don't have any chapter markers in the 1st one second. I wasn't sure, so I also deleted my chapter marker within one second of the end of the movie. After that, my export worked without any problem. Let me know if it works for you.

Good luck!
iMama

So what is the solution if you don't have any chapter markers and the thing still gives an -2125 error message? My film is just shy of 3 hours.

I am getting the same error on a 1:07:26 movie. Not unlike others, I'm getting frustrated.

See my post above.

Christabelle,

I'm sorry, but my experience only covers the chapter markers. There are QuickTime specifications for stills and other items, and if some of your project does not meet the specifications, you can't export the iMovie to a QT file. I believe, but am not SURE, that the movie needs to be one hour or less. You could try breaking it into three parts to see if that helps. You could also break it into segments and see how many of them will export--isolating the problem area. This, of course, would be very time-consuming, but maybe faster in the long run than searching for an answer online.

If you find a solution, please post it here. Remember the error you are getting(fileOffsetTooBigErr = -2125) is in QuickTime, not iMovie.

Good luck!
iMama

I am having the same problem, my movie is nearly 3 hours long and I tried to share with itunes and that gave the 2125 error, i then exported it as a movie in HD but apple TV won't recognise it? I have now tried several times to export as a movie and share with itunes still the same error !!

Help !!!!!!

Same problem here, using iMovie '09, version 8.0.2. My movie length is 2 hours and 36 minutes. Exporting to "Medium" is OK. Exporting to "Large" brings the error message, "The project could not be prepared for publishing because an error occurred. (OSStatus error -2125.)"

I use iNoMovie 8.0.3, my project is just 13 minutes and I got the error (-2125, with no additional explanation that would be helpful) when I want to export best quality, no compression. I tried with or without de-interlacing... nothing. Why this software is SOOOOOOOO horribly designed. All the good things Apple does with the iPhone and the Mac OS are wiped out with iMovie and iDVD. Please help!

I use iMovie '09 and received the same error even after trying the different suggestions in this forum. I was able to get the problem solved by simply using the Share>Media Browser option in iMovie '09 instead of the Share>iDVD option. Once I published my project to the Media Browser I was able to create my DVD by selecting the project via the iDVD interface. I hope this helps.

I have the same message when exporting to QT (The movie could not be exported because an error occurred. (-2125)).

The weird thing is that I exported my 32 minute movie to QT once and it worked good, but I had some things I wanted to change. I made the changes in iMovie and exported again, and this time about 10 of the images had color shift problems (sky kept flickering red or green. I tried a further export, and got the error message. iMovie will no longer export to QT.

There is nothing fancy about this iMovie project - no chapters - just photos and .mov movies taken with my HD still camera. The QT processes for 4 out of 5 hours and stops.

I have had nothing but problems with this latest iMovie, iDVD and Snow Leo. Oh to go back to plain Leopard again!! Come on Apple - concentrate on quality programs again!!!! Are you trying to emulate Windows??