iMovie and .mov files

Question

Level 1

11 points

iMovie and .mov files

Why in the **** can't I import simple .mov files, taken on my iPhone, into iMovie? I see this question was asked 11 years ago, and never effectively answered.

MacBook Pro, 10.13.6

iPhone 8, iOS 15.0

iMovie 11, 9.0.4

I don't want to be a Hollywood producer... ! Just want to put together and edit a couple videos. I've been using Macs since 1987 and have never seen anything stupider than iMovie not being able to import an .mov file... someone take away my pain.

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 10.13

Posted on Sep 29, 2021 8:26 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Rich839

Level 8

48,156 points

Sep 29, 2021 10:24 PM in response to conjos

It might be because your iMovie version 9.0.4 is about 13 iterations out of date. It's not even the highest version of iMovie 9. Further, iMovie 9 becomes increasingly dysfunctional on operating systems from El Capitan forward. So you might consider getting iMovie 10.

When you say that you "can't import" the .mov files, what exactly is happening? They won't import at all, or they import but display a black screen? Any error message? What is the resolution and frame rate of the clips? Open them in QuickTimePlayer and do a View/Show Movie Inspector, and post a screen shot of the display box.

-- Rich

Reply

Answer 2

Rich839

Level 8

48,156 points

Sep 30, 2021 6:23 AM in response to conjos

The format as shown by the inspecter window is HEVC, that is not supported by your older software. You can re-export the clip from your iPhone and eliminate the HEVC, or export the clip out of QuickTimePlayer and there will be a box to check where you can elect to not export in HEVC. Try that and see if your clip will then import into iMovie.

— Rich

Reply

Answer 3

conjos Author

Level 1

11 points

Sep 30, 2021 12:47 AM in response to Rich839

Sorry... when I say "can't import" I mean that the .mov files are grayed out.

I tried to update iMovie... I get an Apple error message telling me that "iMovie cannot be updated because it was refunded or purchased with a different Apple ID"... which cannot be the case since I have never had a different Apple ID, never misused it, never had it stolen, etc... trying for technical support from Apple for the ID message.

Reply

iMovie and .mov files

Similar questions