Why is it I can't play photos of documents, which I shot with my iPhone, in the iMovie viewer?

Hi,

Be sure that you are running the current versions of iMovie and Mac OS. Those would be iMovie 10.1.11 and Mojave. You can run iMovie 10.1.11 on High Sierra as well.

If you are running Sierra or older operating system, photos shot in HEIF format might not display. If that's the case you can change the format to jpeg, png, or TIFF.

Sometimes lowering the resolution of a photo will cure display problems. This is the solution that has worked for most people. To lower the resolution, put the photo on your desktop and open it in the Preview app (just click on the photo and it will automatically open in Preview). In the Preview menu bar, select Tools/Adjust Size. In the box that appears, reduce the higher resolution number to, say, 2500. So, if the resolution is 3200 x 4200, reduce the 4200 number to 2500. Usually something lower than 4000 will work, but sometimes you need to go lower. Then save and drag back into iMovie. See if it displays.

If still no luck, try opening iMovie while holding down the Option and Command keys and selecting to delete preferences in the box that appears. iMovie will open in a new library. Reopen your old library to get back to your projects. Now see if the problem is cured.

You might also try doing an Edit/Select All, Edit/Copy, of the media in your project, and then Edit/Paste it into a newly created project. See if the photos display there.

-- Rich

-- Rich

You are very welcome. 😊. Glad it worked for you.

-- Rich