iMovie Clip Filters Producing Error Message

Been having some serious trouble getting the clip filter feature to work in iMovie. Here's what happened:

  1. My Mac is having trouble with storage. I have an external hard drive connected while iMovie is open.
  2. I think "Oh, I have a copy of my iMovie library in my hard drive. That's taking up 144GB of MacIntosh HD that doesn't need to be there. I'll use CleanMyMac to delete it."
  3. Didn't realize those are two separate libraries, the one on the hard drive being older. iMovie crashes since it doesn't have a library to draw from.
  4. I panic and download DiskDrill and recover the library, then move it to my hard drive along with the iMovie theater. All is well in the world!
  5. Except...now most of the clip filters aren't working properly. The ones that are, I covered with the red squares. But most of them will not load and they put that red error symbol over the clip in iMovie.


So...where are these other clip filters stored in terms of files? Can I recover them or is my iMovie permanently crippled by my stupid mistake earlier? Will uninstalling help? Please save me.

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 26.2

Posted on Jan 29, 2026 5:05 PM

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iMovie Clip Filters Producing Error Message

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