iMovie library taking up too much space...

Look, I am desperate already. I have a video podcast. It has 13gb. When I import it into iMovie and slowly start editing (no effects, no added stuff, just cuts) it slowly takes more and more Library storage. Now the Library takes more than 120gb of space. There are no other files, no other projects. Everything is deleted. Just this one video. Why? And how? How is that possible. I am making the video shorter and it keeps taking more space. Any way to solve this?

Windows

Posted on Nov 26, 2023 5:49 AM

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Posted on Nov 27, 2023 12:38 PM

You are right. It is not possible. No editing that you do in an iMovie project will add or subtract from the 13GB size that you originally imported. This is because iMovie has non-destructive editing. One edits a reference thumbnail in the project, but the original file remains untouched in the iMovie library. There are no original files in the project, and the project itself has a very small size. The only way that the library size would increase or decrease is if you were adding or subtracting additional clips to this or other projects and events.


So, something is amiss here. Control click on the iMovie library's icon in the Movies folder and click on Show Package Contents in the pop-up menu. How many projects and evens to you see listed there?


Control click on the Library's icon again and select Get Info from the pop up menu. What size is shown for the library?


You said that you deleted all of the other files and projects. What procedure did you use to do that?


-- Rich



1 reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Nov 27, 2023 12:38 PM in response to jakeaarons

You are right. It is not possible. No editing that you do in an iMovie project will add or subtract from the 13GB size that you originally imported. This is because iMovie has non-destructive editing. One edits a reference thumbnail in the project, but the original file remains untouched in the iMovie library. There are no original files in the project, and the project itself has a very small size. The only way that the library size would increase or decrease is if you were adding or subtracting additional clips to this or other projects and events.


So, something is amiss here. Control click on the iMovie library's icon in the Movies folder and click on Show Package Contents in the pop-up menu. How many projects and evens to you see listed there?


Control click on the Library's icon again and select Get Info from the pop up menu. What size is shown for the library?


You said that you deleted all of the other files and projects. What procedure did you use to do that?


-- Rich



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iMovie library taking up too much space...

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