Video import problem

Pete - I am running into the same exact issue. I just bought a brand new MacBook Pro with the M3 Max chip. When adding video to my project (from “Photos” folder in iMovie, left hand side of screen), I am getting the same error or it imports the file just as a single frozen image. However after pulling it into the movie timeline, then deleting the faulty video, I go into the iMovie Library (just under Photos) and pull from the video from there. It imports without issue. Very bizzare.

Your screen shot indicates that the import never completed. Perhaps you unplugged the camera or somehow discontinued the process before completing the import. Try reimporting and waiting longer for the import to complete.

Possibly also the link between your iMovie app and the iMovie library has somehow been broken, or the library is corrupted.

Try deleting preferences and then reimporting. Open iMovie while holding down the Option and Command keys and select to delete preferences in the box that appears. iMovie will open in a new empty library. If so, reopen your old library to get back to your projects. Possibly you may need to reboot to set the changes.  Deleting preferences is a safe procedure that will not cause data loss or disruption to your project.

If still no luck try opening iMovie in a new library. To do that, open iMovie while holding down the Option key and then selecting to create a new library in the box that appears. Create a new project in the new library and import your video into it. Now see if they play.

-- Rich

Yes, copy your old projects into the newly created library. You can copy finished projects as well as partially completed projects.

The procedure is to open both libraries (Open iMovie in current library, then do File/Open/Other to open a second libary). Both libraries will be listed in the project sidebar. Then go to the Projects browser screen (where your projects are displayed as icons). From the dropdown menu at the top of the browser screen, select your current library to display the projects in that library.

Then move your cursor over a project's icon, that will cause a little circle with dots in it to appear to the right of the project's name. Click on the circle to cause a pop up menu to appear. From the pop up menu, click on Copy to Library and then choose the recipient library.

Before doing the above go back to your Media view and select your current library's name in the side bar and do a File/Consolidate Library Media. Then go back to the Project's browser of your current library and select each project and do a File/Consolidate Project Media. Then you can go ahead and copy your projects over to the new library.

Do the above for each project until you have copied them all over. Once the procedure is done, you can delete the old library if you wish, after first confirming that the new library is working properly. Do the Consolidate Project Media procedure on the new library first.

-- Rich

Another possibly is that you are trying to import videos that are in the cloud and have not yet been downloaded. This can happen if you are storing in the cloud or are using iCloud Photos with optimized storage enabled. If this might be your situation, try downloading the videos before importing them into iMovie.

-- Rich

I had the same problem (Mac OS 14.1 and iMovie 10.3.5); I'd been working on a project using a bunch of photos and images that are in the Photos app. I did a ton of editing just fine, but then I copied/pasted about 20+ clips into a new project and both projects started corrupting the clips (either being completely black in the timeline, or turning the audio section red and showing a question mark for the thumbnail). Oddly the source files are just fine; I can still do a "reveal in project" and it shows them to me... I can play them from the media panel, and when I go to Photos, I can play them from there.

• I tried deleting iMovie preferences but it didn't work, and the more I editing I did, the more clips would start to show as missing.

• I also tried creating a new library and then copying the project over, but the missing file issue followed.

• THE ONLY FIX for me was to just make a new project and start from scratch. Otherwise, I to salvage my existing project, I had to export the clips from Photos to a file, then go import that file into a new event and drop it form there... but nothing I could do would repair the import-from-Photos bug. This proves the files are still fine and there is no corrupt file path or missing source file; it's just a bug in iMovie somewhere, and once it starts, it won't go away and abandoning your project is the only option. =(

CORRECTION: I didn't see the copy-between-library method described by Rich839 in the nested thread. After finding that, I was able to copy all my projects to a new library and they worked!!! Thanks Rich!

Looks like you're good to go. Glad you got it working.

-- Rich