Editing videos on my Mac in Photos seems to be corrupting the file.

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Level 1

12 points

Editing videos on my Mac in Photos seems to be corrupting the file.

If I edit a video in any way in photos on my Mac, the file seems to become corrupt. It can not be shared, copied or moved even to my desk top. I've rebuilt/repaired the library, I've purchased new data cables, my external drive is formatted correctly, I've rebooted in safe mode and still any edit at all corrupts the file. It also is doing it with a photo when I use retouch. I was experiencing this a few weeks ago and it cleared up (sort of) but it seems to be back with a vengeance. I'm beginning to wonder if my photos app is corrupted. Maybe I should delete it and re install? It's very frustrating. Everything is the latest version.

I can edit the videos on my phone and transfer them via type C data cable to photos and they are fine. I just can't edit them on my Mac in Photos. Ugh

iMac 24″, macOS 26.3

Posted on Mar 5, 2026 1:17 PM

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Answer 1

Mar 5, 2026 9:32 PM in response to Wpfbki10

Sounds weird. Please describe your workflow in detail. A sample movie in some cloud service might also give us some clue.

Many users have stumbled on 3rd party apps corrupting the system so obligatory warning: Remove all 3rd party virus apps (Avast, AVG, Bitdefender, Intego, MacAfee, Norton, Kaspersky, ESET NOD32, Trusteer, PC Matic etc) and 3rd party "cleaning", "optimizing", "speed-up" apps (CleanMyMac, Cleaner One, MacKeeper etc). They produce obscure errors like this and are not needed (MalwareBytes and AppCleaner are exceptions but should be used manually and cautiously).

An EtreCheck report would also eliminate much guesswork:

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-250000632

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Answer 2

Mar 6, 2026 6:50 AM in response to Wpfbki10

Matti Haveri wrote: No! macOS built-in anti-virus and security is all you need.

And by all means don't copy that stuff to another computer!

You tried Safe Mode, and that's good. Repairing the Library was a good step. Here are a couple of other things to try:

Use another library if you have one, or make a small test Library with a few videos and pictures in it and see if the same thing happens. You can create a new Library by closing Photos and then option-clicking on the Photos icon.
Make a new user and see if the same problem recurs with it. This is a bit harder, because a new user can't access a different user's stuff. You would need to temporarily move your Library out of your own user's Pictures folder up to the general "Users" folder.

These will tell us if the problem is with the Library or with the User account. Let us know…

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Answer 3

Mar 6, 2026 3:15 AM in response to Wpfbki10

Wpfbki10 wrote:

Maybe I should download one of the antivirus apps and see if anything changes.

No! macOS built-in anti-virus and security is all you need.

Avoid all 3rd party virus apps (Avast, AVG, Bitdefender, Intego, MacAfee, Norton, Kaspersky, ESET NOD32, Trusteer, PC Matic etc) and 3rd party "cleaning", "optimizing", "speed-up" apps (CleanMyMac, Cleaner One, MacKeeper etc). They produce obscure errors and are not needed (MalwareBytes and AppCleaner are exceptions but should be used manually and cautiously).

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Answer 4

Wpfbki10 Author

Level 1

12 points

Mar 6, 2026 2:15 AM in response to Matti Haveri

Thank you Matti. This is a relatively new computer (less than a year) and I have none of those 3rd party apps on it. Maybe that's why I'm having trouble. Maybe I should download one of the antivirus apps and see if anything changes. I have almost the identical setup at another place and I will be there this weekend. I will take my remote hard drives with me and see if the same issues are seen on that Mac. That might help narrow it down. Should I install MalwareBytes or AppCleaner on this machine? I think they are on my other computer.

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Editing videos on my Mac in Photos seems to be corrupting the file.

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