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What happens is I import 1-4 files - they might each be about 1GB. Then I make a few cuts and export to a video file. My iMovie library goes from 0GB to nearly 40GB and my laptop has trouble running.
Why does the library get SO huge and how can I prevent this?
I'm on a Macbook Pro 2015 with 8GB of memory.
MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.5
I don't know!
In Final Cut Pro you can turn off rendering in the Preferences but I can't see that in iMovie.
However, what you could do is to regularly delete the render files and the easiest way to do it is to select iMovie>Preferences and click the "Delete" button.
Hi, bryn149,
Some more details would be helpful.
What is the format and running time of your 1GB source videos? What quality settings are you using to export them from iMovie? How much free space do you have on your internal drive?
If your laptop has trouble running, it may be because you are maxed out on space. Or perhaps you need to reset your System Management Controller and NVRAM. Try the following procedures:
Resetting the System Management Controller
Try resetting the System Management Controller:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295
Resetting the NVRAM or PRAM
Try resetting the NVRAM or PRAM, although this issue would be fairly rare:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204063
-- Rich
So the reason my computer runs on overdrive after an edited video is because the library is 40+ GB and I have virtually no space left on the hard drive. I could an external hard drive for my iMovie library but I shouldn't have to do that - why would the library be so big?
The videos going into iMovie are .MOV files, 1-3 GB each and about 15 minutes long. Then I export on medium resolution and quality.
You are probably using the "Best Quality" setting for your video which uses ProRes and produces gigantic files that are unsuitable for normal playback.
You should be using "High Quality".
Sorry! I didn't read everything.
You have probably created a lot of huge ProRes render files inadvertently.
This video shows how to delete them........ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVxbo_Kkx5Q
Wow! Thank you. Is there a way in the future to avoid creating such huge ProRes render files?
iMovie library is huge after editing just one video
