iTunes won't add mp4 video files to the library

Having similar issues. Trying to add movies to the library but they don't show up. I had two that were moved to the Home Videos section and after editing the movie type under "get info", they moved over to Movies, but I have a few that won't even show up under Home Videos, even though when I click "add to library", iTunes moves the file from my iTunes Music\Movies to iTunes Music\Home Videos. If I right click the file in Finder I can get the movie to play in QuickTime or even iTunes, but it just will not show up anywhere in the iTunes library. Tried re-encoding various ways with HandBrake but the video file format does not seem to be the issue. Any other ideas?

Thanks,

I posted about this issue shortly after iTunes 11 was released. I cannot import the following video file formats regardless of the encoder settings:

.MP4

.M4v

.MOV

even re-encoding using iMovie does not help the situation. This is a very frustrating bug. Very un-apple like to release products that are not fully tested. This bug makes air play basically useless for me.

check the home movie tab you will probably find it hiding there

I had this problem. Have you looked under the tab "Home Videos" yet? I found like 6 instances of my movie in there.

I experienced this just today. After messing around with my PC I found that the security settings for the drive/directory access to where my media files were stored did not allow for full access by my PC/user account. I reset all secutity settings to full access and reimported the movies into itunes and now they show up. If anyone is having problems when adding media to itunes and it not showing up in the respective folders I suggest checking your security/sharing settings on your pc. As for those finding movies showing up under home video I think this may be the itunes default if there is no metatag for movie or tv program. Easy and quick way to resolve this is to select all the files in home movie, right click, get info, options, media kind - select movie

I have the exact same problem. The file is copied in to the home vidoes directory but never shows up in itunes. No idea what is happening here but I would like resolution. I can't seem to find a solution. I am thinking a reboot but I doubt that will help itunes find it?

Alright after much trial and error here is what worked for me. So the problem looks like this. You use handbrake to rip your movie onto your desktop. You drag the ripped movie from your desktop into itunes. Usually I've found it ends up in the home videos section to later be labeled "movie" in the get info menu in options. The problem I was running into was that what had previously worked was no longer working a mere half hour later. The weird thing was I could see the file on my apple tv but when searching in the itunes/media/home videos folder or anything else in the media folder it wasn't there. Totally weird. Then I noticed the "automatically add to itunes" folder in the itunes media folder. I dragged and dropped the file into that folder and it dumped it right into itunes. Totally weird work around. Hope this helps you guys and hope this helps give clues as to the bugs that need to be worked out on apples side.

Holy smokes this has been a problem for me for a while. Nothing suggested here worked until.... I shutdown Quicktime. The files had been open in Quicktime and that must have prevented them being added to the library. The moment I closed the windows, and quit Quicktime, the files magically appeared in Home Videos. Nutso!

i've been having the trouble everyone here has been having - uploading mp4 files to iTunes to be able to sync them to my iPad

i read around that the file needs to be iTunes compatible to upload and found, when looking at my prism video file converter program, that there's a file type i hadn't noticed before:

mp4 (iPad)

i converted the file i wanted to upload to this format and had no problem uploading it - it appeared in 'Films' and from there i synced it with my iPad

hope this helps

Thanks for this tip mine do show up in the list view and not the thumbnail view 🙂

Great tip Jamie, closing Quicktime worked straight away 🙂

mrmonkey82 wrote:

I was having the same problem. I was attempting to add an mp4 movie to my library and it just would not appear under movies. I did a search for the file name in the itunes search bar and my file appeared. It has been under the "Home Movies" sub header. This was changable from right clicking, selecting "get info" > Options tab and using the dropdown to select the media type and change it to movie. It then showed up in the place I was looking. I sort of feel dumb for having missed that, but hopefully this will save someone else that shameful fate.

DUDE!!! Reproduce! We need more people alive like yourself.

Anyhow THANK YOU!!!! Man this has been bothering me for SO LONG!

My FIX thanks to mr monkey:

1. Type some component of the movie name in the search bar.

2. The movie pops up.

3. Click it once to pull it up. (you will most likely be in the "Home Video" area which has this and any others that were "orphaned"

4. Right click > Get Info

5. click the OPTIONS tab. Select the dropdown and change to MOVIES

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Sometimes you have to wonder if anyone is home. You used to be able to "Add File to Library" and an mp4 would be put into your "Movies" tab. Now when you "Add File to Library" it goes into "Home Videos" and you have to move it over - not a big deal, but just another step. If your like me you have almost no home videos on iTunes and many movie mp4's. I bet most users are the same, so you have to wonder why the change.

I just had to do a clean install (again) on my PC. When I went to add my mp4's using "Add Folder or Add File to Library" the import dialog box would flash by, and nothing would be imported. It took some time (b*tching and moaning sounds were heard), but after awhile I discovered that when I installed iTunes 11.0.2.26, Quicktime was not automatically installed along with it (since this is not my first clean install, I know that Quicktime is required to make iTunes work and that it used to be included as a part of the installation package in previous versions of iTunes). This time around, no Quicktime and no message that it must be installed independently to get everything to work. I don't know when this change was made since it has been some time since my last clean install. Thanks very much Apple!

After the Quicktime install, iTunes worked perfectly; I was able to import all my mp4's without a hitch.

That was it! This shouldn't be the way this is supposed to work, but I'm just glad to have found my video. Thanks!!!

The fix for me turned out to be re-encoding the video with HandBrake.