Missing remote media

I take it that you are trying to import videos into iMovie via the Photos item in the iMovie project sidebar. Correct?

Possibly the videos that you are trying to import are still stored in the cloud. That can happen if you have activated optimized storage. Check to see if that is the case and, if it is, then download the videos to the Photos app library. Then they should be recognized by iMovie, provided that the Photos app library that contains the videos has been designated as the system photo library in the Photos app general preferences.

-- Rich

Richie83,

The 1/3 of the videos that are not adding are the ones that need to be downloaded. These are usually photos that have not been opened for awhile, if you are syncing to iCloud with optimized storage selected. I don't use iCloud Photos, so not sure whether the non-downloaded photos are earmarked in some way.

You can download them by simply opening them in Photos, or by doing a File/Export to your desktop.

Had the same issue. Went to my video that is in "Photos", did File, Export, and put it on the desktop. Then I dragged it into iMovies and it worked.

Thanks Rich. This was my issue. I actually had run low on space so bought an external drive to dump a load of older files which allowed me to download from iCloud.

This is caused by a bug in the version you are using.

Update to the latest version which should be OK.

EDIT: Did not see there were answers already. My Browser showed the thread as having no replies until I posted this!

I think I’m having the same issue. It’s driving me around the bend a bit. When you say download them how would I know they needed to be downloaded and how would I do it? Only ask as ⅔ of the videos are adding fine but others I’m getting the remote media error despite them playing fine in photos. Thanks for your help.

So I tried doing this and received a popup saying it was unable to export due to an unknown error. Any thoughts?