Convert AVI video and preserve creation date

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Level 1

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Convert AVI video and preserve creation date

I have a few hundred video files from my Canon camcorder with the extension .AVI which apparently iMovie will no longer support with future releases of macOS running 64 bit technology. I have updated the creation date of all my files to reflect the actual date and time the video was shot. Now I would like to convert these files to a new compatible format and preserve the creation dates of the files. Quicktime automatically converts these files to MOV format when I open the AVI file and then resave it. The problem is that the creation date becomes the current date, and not the creation date of the AVI file. Other video converters that I have looked at seem to do the same thing. Does anyone know how to retain the file creation date, or how to extract it from an AVI file (if it even exists there) when converting to MOV with Quicktime? Is the Compressor software able to do this?

Posted on Mar 13, 2019 2:31 PM

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Answer 1

Rich839

Level 8

48,156 points

Mar 14, 2019 9:33 AM in response to codad

An .avi file is a bucket that can contain different mixes of formats. So they are not all the same.

However, the .avi files that I have in my library bear their creation date (date recorded). I exported an .avi file to the Mac desktop and it exported with the date recorded. Same with importing into iMovie -- it came in with the date recorded. Thus, the date recorded was part of the meta data of the .avi file.

When I exported the .avi file as a single clip in an iMovie project, it showed the date of export as the date of creation.

When I used Handbrake or VLC to convert the original .avi file to Mp4, the converted file displayed the conversion date as the date of creation.

The creation date meta data is there, but one has to find a conversion app with a setting that allows preservation of the original creation date in the converted file.

-- Rich

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Answer 2

Rich839

Level 8

48,156 points

Mar 13, 2019 5:31 PM in response to codad

Hi,

When you convert a file to a new format you are creating a new file -- hence the new creation date. There may be some way of retaining the old creation date, but I am not aware of it. If you import the converted clip into iMovie you can select it in the Library browser view and do a Modify/Adjust Time and Date of the clip. However, once you export it out again I suspect that the creation date will be changed to current date. You can experiment and see.

There may be others on this forum who will chime in if they have helpful information.

-- Rich

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Answer 3

codad Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 13, 2019 9:26 PM in response to Rich839

Thanks Rich. Does anyone know what metadata is saved in an AVI file, and how to access it? At a minimum it would seem that the date and time the video was shot would be in the file. But when AVI file imported into iMovie, it certainly did not recognize any date other than the date stamp of the file. That's why I experimented and changed the file creation dates manually. I was able to view the miniDV tape on the camcorder and view the date and time there. So it's on the tape, but when the AVI file is created I don't know if it contains that metadata. For anyone trying to transfer large numbers of miniDV tapes to files (AVI or otherwise) the date and time is obviously important. Also tried to import directly into iMovie from the camcorder, but iMovie didn't play nicely and would not give correct dates or separate the clips properly. Isn't there a better way to do this? There must be lots of people in need of a reliable way to convert their tapes to digital format.

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Convert AVI video and preserve creation date

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