User profile for user: DougGJoseph
DougGJoseph Author
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How to (why can I not?) transfer MP4 video from MacOS to iPhone? Says not enough space, but I have 100's of GB of free space!

I have the exact same issue as...

How to transfer mp4 files to my iPhone x - Apple Community


I'm on a MacBook Pro with M1 Max chipset and an iPhone 11 Pro Max iPhone with 100's of GBs of free space on it. I have an MP4 video file on my MacBook that I need on my phone. I've tried Airdrop, which does not work and does not give any error message — just disappears. I've tried Music App (while connected with Lightning cable / USB), nothing there works. When trying under Movies tab, nothing happens, and when trying under File tab it erroneously claims I don't have enough free space. I've also tried via the Finder window's left side bar that allows access to the iPhone when connected via Lightning cable / USB), nothing there works. There has to be a way to get this video file to the phone! Can anyone help me? Thanks in advance.

MacBook Pro 15″, OS X 10.10

Posted on Jan 13, 2024 11:52 AM

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User profile for user: DougGJoseph
DougGJoseph Author
User level: Level 1
13 points

Posted on Jan 13, 2024 12:21 PM

OK, I finally succeeded with Airdrop, by the following method.


  1. On the MacBookPro, I opened the "4K" MP4 file (which was 12.72 GB in file size) in QuickTime, and used the "File > Export As > 4K" menu option, and in the export options, I chose "Smaller File Size (HEVC)" as opposed to "Greater Compatibility (H.264)." This got me a .MOV file that was reduced down to only 5.33 GB in file size.
  2. On the iPhone, I went to settings, searched for "Auto-Lock" and set it to "Never" (instead of 1 minute or whatever my prior setting was). I did this because I happened to notice that the moment the phone screen went blank is when the Airdrop process would bail out / cancel.


This got me a successful Airdrop process. :-)

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User profile for user: DougGJoseph
DougGJoseph Author
User level: Level 1
13 points

Jan 13, 2024 12:21 PM in response to DougGJoseph

OK, I finally succeeded with Airdrop, by the following method.


  1. On the MacBookPro, I opened the "4K" MP4 file (which was 12.72 GB in file size) in QuickTime, and used the "File > Export As > 4K" menu option, and in the export options, I chose "Smaller File Size (HEVC)" as opposed to "Greater Compatibility (H.264)." This got me a .MOV file that was reduced down to only 5.33 GB in file size.
  2. On the iPhone, I went to settings, searched for "Auto-Lock" and set it to "Never" (instead of 1 minute or whatever my prior setting was). I did this because I happened to notice that the moment the phone screen went blank is when the Airdrop process would bail out / cancel.


This got me a successful Airdrop process. :-)

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How to (why can I not?) transfer MP4 video from MacOS to iPhone? Says not enough space, but I have 100's of GB of free space!

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