The Library “iMovie Library” is damaged.

I've been working in iMovie for the last few days on some short clips. I went to start another project and when I clicked 'create new', I got the error The Library “iMovie Library” is damaged. There is a button to repair the library. I click it, but I still get the error message afterward when I try to open a new project.

I have tried shutting down and rebooting, but that didn't do anything either.


Thank you in advance for any help.


Posted on Aug 18, 2022 7:35 AM

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Posted on Aug 18, 2022 8:35 AM

Try opening an earlier, backed-up, version of your library. You can find previous backups in the iMovie backups folder.


To get to the iMovie Backups folder, follow this file path from the Finder menu:


Go/Home/Library/Containers/com.apple.iMovieApp/Data/Library/Caches/iMovieBackups


When you get there you will see a list of previous backups of your iMovie library.  Click on one dated just before your issue started.  iMovie will open in that library.   Navigate to your projects browser (where your projects are displayed as icons) and see if your projects are intact and that you can create a new project.


Also, if you keep a Time Machine backup, you can restore your iMovie library to an earlier point in time before the corruption occurred.


-- Rich



2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Aug 18, 2022 8:35 AM in response to rusty iron

Try opening an earlier, backed-up, version of your library. You can find previous backups in the iMovie backups folder.


To get to the iMovie Backups folder, follow this file path from the Finder menu:


Go/Home/Library/Containers/com.apple.iMovieApp/Data/Library/Caches/iMovieBackups


When you get there you will see a list of previous backups of your iMovie library.  Click on one dated just before your issue started.  iMovie will open in that library.   Navigate to your projects browser (where your projects are displayed as icons) and see if your projects are intact and that you can create a new project.


Also, if you keep a Time Machine backup, you can restore your iMovie library to an earlier point in time before the corruption occurred.


-- Rich



Aug 18, 2022 9:54 AM in response to Rich839

Often when an iMovie library becomes corrupted it is because of corruption in one project. So, you can remove the projects one at a time to a newly created library, closing and opening your old library after each move, until you get a fully functioning library. Then you'll know that the last project that you moved was the corrupt one causing the problem. You can then either delete the corrupt project or try to find and fix the corruption. The projects would need to be moved from within the iMovie library, and not from the Show Package Contents of the old library. The procedure for moving a project is described in this help menu link under Manage Project.


https://help.apple.com/imovie/mac/10.1/#/mov79fa23112


Or, you can approach it from the opposite way, copying (not moving) the projects one by one into a newly created library until the new library won't function. The last project that you copied over will be the guilty one.


-- Rich



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The Library “iMovie Library” is damaged.

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