Is iMovie is taking up too much storage space on your Mac? Check this. [Tutorial to fix]
You might have noticed that iMovie is slowly taking over your entire system's storage space. This is likely due to a large number of render files that need to be removed from your system. Thankfully, there is a one button fix for this built right into iMovie.
This tutorial is built for version 10.2.5 of iMovie on Mac. It will likely still apply to other versions on Mac as well.
Step 1: Open "About This Mac"
We will be using "About This Mac" to make sure you are saving storage space later. To open "About This Mac" move your mouse to the top left corner of the screen. A little ribbon should show up. There will be an apple logo in that corner. Click directly on the Apple logo. This will bring up a dropdown menu. The first option should be "About This Mac". Click that.
After a moment, a box will show up. At the top of this box, click "Storage".
Wait for a brief period until the calculations are completed. You will now have a bar showing you what kind of data is taking up your storage.
Make a note of how much storage space is available on your computer using the text above the bar. It will say "###.## GB available of ###.## GB" with numbers instead.
Leave this storage bar menu up for the rest of this process. You will need it later.
Step 2: Open iMovie
I figure you know how to do this if you are looking at this article.
Step 3: Deleting the Render Files
While looking at the iMovie screen, hover the mouse at the top of the screen. The little ribbon menu will show up. There will be text next to the Apple logo that says "iMovie". Click directly on the iMovie text. This will bring up another drop down menu. Click "Preferences" from that list. After a moment, a menu will pop up titled "iMovie Preferences" at the top. At the bottom of that menu there is a section titled "Render Files" with a button that says "Delete" next to it. Click the "Delete" button. A warning message will pop up. You may read the warning. Put simply, it is informing you that you will save storage space by continuing at the cost of some performance speed for the next few exports from iMovie. Click "Delete" on this warning as well.
Step 4: Wait and Watch "About This Mac" storage.
Look over at the "About This Mac" storage bar I had you pull up in Step 1. You may notice that you are suddenly gaining a ton of available space on your Mac, even up to the hundreds of GB of data. DO NOT BE ALARMED. It is not deleting the program or any of your projects inside of it. Instead, it is removing a ton of render files from previous exports that have built up in the background over many movie exports. Eventually, the "iMovie Preferences" box will pop up and allow you to interact with it once more. This is when the program has successfully deleted all the render files.
Step 5: Enjoy your storage space.
You can safely close all the things I have had you pull up, including iMovie itself.
Notice: The first few exports from the program will be noticeably slower. As the warning stated, the render files have to be regenerated. This effect will go away over a few exports.
I hope this helps you all. Repeat this process from time to time to prevent massive buildups of render files.
-Notice for faculty: This question has been answered already. I just wanted to provide a tutorial that you might be able to refer others to.
