iMovie library

If you delete from the iMovie app itself a project that contains media, a new event with the same name as your project is created in the currently open library, containing the media from that project. So you are not saving any space. That is because the iMovie app does not contain any original media. It contains only small sized thumbnails that refer to the Original Media in the iMovie library. To delete the original media you would need to do the additional step of deleting the Event from the iMovie media sidebar. You would need to delete the Event, not just the clips in the event.

You should not delete anything from the iMovie library Show Package Contents, or you risk corrupting the whole library. The Show Package Contents are displayed when one control-clicks on the library's icon in the Movies folder, or wherever other place it might be stored. .

Be aware that when you delete media from the iMovie library you are removing the media from all projects that may be referring to it. Therefore, you may be disabling projects that you do not intend to disable.

Most people who work with videos to any extent purchase an external drive to store the iMovie library. That way the space consuming videos are stored on the external drive instead of your internal drive. The external drive must be formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled) or APFS.

-- Rich

If you are finished with the library and will never need it again you can delete it.

CHECK THERE IS NOTHING YOU NEED IN THE OLD LIBRARY BEFORE DELETING AS THERE IS NO WAY YOU WILL BE ABLE TO RECOVER IT.

Unless you have specified somewhere different, the Library will be in your Movies folder.

Drag it to the trash and empty it.

A new (empty) library will be created when you launch iMovie.

FWIW, I consider it best practice to create a new iMovie Library for each of my projects. I detest having clips, etc. in an iMovie Library that are irrelevant to my current project. It also prevents the kind of bloat you have accumulated in your iMovie Library.

To create a new iMovie Library just follow the instructions in the iMovie User Guide. You can have as many iMovie Libraries as you want.

You can also transfer projects (or just selected assets) between Libraries ... and break up an existing large iMovie Library into separate smaller Libraries ... there is a good video on YouTube about how to do this.

When you control-click on the library's icon in the Movies folder, you will get a drop down menu that contains Show Package Contents as an option.

Clicking on Show Package Contents will display a folder that contains subfolders for of all of the projects and events in the library.

You cannot play the projects in the Show Package Contents. When you click on a project's subfolder, it will display additional subfolders that contain the media in the project. The project subfolder titled Original Media shows all of the clips that have been used in the project. You can play the media there, or copy (not move) the clips to your desktop to play. But you should not delete them from the project Original Media folder.

For example, the project folder for the project titled My Movie 1 is as follows:

The highlighted Original Media subfolder of the project shows the two clips that are in the project.

As mentioned in my previous post, you should not delete, alter, or move anything contained in the Show Package Contents and Project subfolders. To do so risks corrupting the library.

-- Rich

You are welcome.

-- Rich

You are welcome! I'm happy to help. Others have helped me so much over the years. It's a great community.