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iMovie failed to export

Hello. I've been exporting files/movies just fine until I made a few edits to an existing project and it's, suddenly, failing to export. I've seen the other posts on this matter but I couldn't find any posts regarding the dialog box error message details when clicked. This is what's coming up: Error: RequestFrameAt returned: 3 for absolute frame: 12442.


iMovie isn't crashing or freezing. I tried restarting the program and then tried restarting my computer but I'm still getting the same dialog box error. Does anyone know what those numbers are referring to? Such as, is that 12442 referring to the 12 minute/44.2 second mark maybe? And, that RequestFrameAt returned --I couldn't find any information on that either upon my first search.


iMovie 10.1.15

OS 10.15.6

Plenty of hard drive space


Thanks

iMac 21.5″, OS X 10.11

Posted on Sep 18, 2020 3:59 AM

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Posted on Sep 19, 2020 4:22 AM

Okay, found a youtube video on this problem. It's an easy fix. Just see, to what point, your videos are rendering. If it's a 10 minute video and only renders 4:32 of it and fails, there's a problem at 4:32. Watch the project at that point and see if there's anything visual. It could be a 1/4 second glitch. Just split that out of the project (about 1 second worth). The problem can also be a transition, sound file, etc. so check for those too if you can't detect anything visual in the video.


I just wish, instead of this error message (or in addition to the error message), the error would read something like "error at 6:57 of the project (check video, transitions, and sound files at that point and remove if needed". Or even just the "error at 6:57" or wherever our videos stop. I know now going forward but there's going to be a first time for many and something like this would be really helpful. Doesn't seem like it would be hard to program into the app.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Sep 19, 2020 4:22 AM in response to kn_97

Okay, found a youtube video on this problem. It's an easy fix. Just see, to what point, your videos are rendering. If it's a 10 minute video and only renders 4:32 of it and fails, there's a problem at 4:32. Watch the project at that point and see if there's anything visual. It could be a 1/4 second glitch. Just split that out of the project (about 1 second worth). The problem can also be a transition, sound file, etc. so check for those too if you can't detect anything visual in the video.


I just wish, instead of this error message (or in addition to the error message), the error would read something like "error at 6:57 of the project (check video, transitions, and sound files at that point and remove if needed". Or even just the "error at 6:57" or wherever our videos stop. I know now going forward but there's going to be a first time for many and something like this would be really helpful. Doesn't seem like it would be hard to program into the app.

Sep 18, 2020 8:53 AM in response to kn_97

The issue you are experiencing has been reported by others as well.


Try deleting preferences as that has worked for some:


Open iMovie while holding down the Option

and Command keys and select 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 you can share out.


-- Rich

Sep 18, 2020 12:35 PM in response to Rich839

Thanks for the reply. That didn't work for me but it's good to know that preferences deletion process. My video seems to render up to a certain point (6:57 out of a 15+ minute total) mark and stops. I tried removing a youtube music file that I had never used before (at that point time point in the movie) as I thought it could be corrupt but that didn't do the trick.


Out of curiosity, I just tried to share another one of my projects of a similar length and that shared just fine. I, also, duplicated the project and deleted everything but the intro at the 1:30 mark and that into shared fine as well. So, I'm guessing there's some video or sound file that's causing this. Will keep tinkering. As mentioned in my opening question, a version of this project at full length of 2 hours shared fine. It's when I shortened the movie by speeding up the movie and adding additional music that this problem occurred.

Sep 18, 2020 2:09 PM in response to kn_97

It does appear that there is corruption somewhere in the project. Try making a duplicate of the project and deleting all the media from 6:50 to the end. Then share out the remaining first part. If you get a good export that would mean that the corruption is in the part that you deleted, 6:50 to 15:00. Make another duplicate and this time delete everything from the beginning to 6:50, and from 6:70 to the end. That would leave you with a segment from 6:50 to 6:70. Share out that segment and see if you get a good export. If yes, you will need to keep deleting and sharing until you narrow it down. If you don't get a good export then the problem exists in the segment 6:50 to 6:70. Expand your timeline and slowly scroll through that segment, looking for white flashes, black frames, artifacts and any other signs of corruption. If you find any, go to your initial project and cut out the corruption and see if you now can share out the entire project.


-- Rich

iMovie failed to export

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