Compressor: "Failed: 3x The operation could not be completed"

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Level 1

10 points

Compressor: "Failed: 3x The operation could not be completed"

I have four video files I've been trying to compress all day. It has taken many repeated tries to get two of them converted, but only after multiple failures with the error:

Failed: 3x The operation could not be completed

I have restarted the machine, and the error persists until it doesn't. Any suggestions on what I suggest?

This is on an M2 MacBook Air with the current 13.1 macOS.

(Image of the last few attempts, but the screen was pretty much full of failures before I cleared it out and started over.)

MacBook Air

Posted on Dec 23, 2022 12:30 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Luis Sequeira1

Level 9

73,404 points

Dec 23, 2022 12:48 PM in response to allenhuffman

What Compressor settings, what drive, how much free space, how is the drive formatted?

What OS and Compressor versions?

Also: just like with FCP or Motion, it may help to delete Compressor preferences. To delete preferences, hold down command and option while starting Compressor and click Delete Preferences.

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Answer 2

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,805 points

Dec 23, 2022 4:33 PM in response to allenhuffman

The message means exactly what it says. It’s tried three times and failed each time. You can tell by the run times. Please give complete information about what you’re doing and your system, specs, everything about the system and the media. Post an EtreCheck report.

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Answer 3

allenhuffman Author

Level 1

10 points

Dec 23, 2022 4:38 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

Wonderful. So Compressor has errors as useful as "An unknown error has occurred."

This is a new M2 MacBook Air, maxed out. 24GB RAM, 2TB drive, 380GB free currently. The file was an HVEC/h.265 mp4 container exported from Topaz Labs Video Enhance AI. If each failure represents 3 attempts, then I suppose it took me 24 to get it to magically work on the last file. I just kept running it over and over again.

Because of this, I have just gone back to Topaz and re-exported alternate versions letting it create the proper bitrate files I want. (I had hoped to just spit out a huge one, and use Compressor to downsize to multiple file sizes, but that's currently not an option.)

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Answer 4

allenhuffman Author

Level 1

10 points

Dec 23, 2022 4:29 PM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Whatever the latest is. This laptop is maybe two months old, and all updates are applied.

The curious thing is the repeated failures, then eventually it works. From web searching, this error message shows up often, but no one seemed to have a reason. "Reboot", "uninstall and reinstall", etc. Typical "did you try turning it off and on again" stuff.

I am just hoping someone sees it here who knows what causes that "3x" error to be generated and can explain what it means.

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Compressor: "Failed: 3x The operation could not be completed"

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