How to export a large iMovie?
Trying to export a movie project and it keeps failing, only exporting ~6mins of the 22min file. Any suggestions?
Even when I downgrade the video quality it still fails after 6 mins.
MacBook Air 13″, macOS 10.15
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Hi, vartisshaw,
The cause of the share fail could be due to a corrupt preference or some corruption at the 6 minute mark of the project, or insufficient application space for iMovie to function efficiently, or insufficient space at the destination to store the movie. Did you get any error message? If so, what is the exact text of it? Below are some diagnostic things that you can try.
First, check to see that you have sufficient space on your destination drive and on the drive where the iMovie app is located.
If there is sufficient space, try deleting preferences, since it is so easy to do. 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. Deleting preferences is a safe procedure that will not cause data loss or disruption to your project. Now see if you can export your project.
If still no luck, go to your iMovie project and use the slider above and to the right of the timeline to fully expand your timeline. Then slowly scroll through the time line beginning just before the 6 minute mark. Look for black frames, white flashes, artifacts, and any other signs of corruption. Cut out any that you find and try again to share out.
You can also try placing your project media into a newly created project and see if it will share out from there. To do that, do an Edit/Select All, Edit/Copy, of the media in your project, and then Edit/Paste it into the timeline of the newly created project. Then share out.
-- Rich