Apple Event: May 7th at 7 am PT
I am having difficulty importing .mov files into iMovie. When I go to file>import>videos, I can find my .mov files I want to move to iMovie. It says it is converting. The files show up in my iMovie folders in Finder but no thumbnails are showing up in iMovie. Any suggestions?
iMac
Try moving your .mov files to your desktop and then dragging them into the events bar of imovie... this is how I do it and it works for me... Hope this helps!
Will your MOV files open in QuickTime Player? If so, click Command-I (or click Window/Inspector) to open the Inspector. Tell us the dimensions of your MOV and also tell us everything that is listed next to the word FORMAT:
Yes, they open in QuickTime Player. Here is what is listed next FORMAT: H.264, 1440 x 1080 (1920 x 1080), Millions AAC, Stereo, 48.000 kHz
Dimensions are: 1768 x 994 pixels
Thanks for your help.
Tried that. Didn't work. Did the same thing as trying to go through file>import>movies. Said it was converting into thumbnails and nothing happened. Thanks.
The audio codec looks fine. The video codec is h.264 which is usually good for iMovie, but there can be variants that iMovie cannot handle. Another interesting thing about the h.264 is that it is anamorphic, which means it stores as 1440x1080, but simulates 1920x1080 by using rectangular pixels.
If I were trying to make this work, I would try converting it using a free tool called MPEG Streamclip, available here. I use the Beta version. http://www.squared5.com/svideo/mpeg-streamclip-mac.html
Drag your clip into MPEG Streamclip. Then click FILE/EXPORT TO QUICKTIME. For Compression, choose Apple Intermediate Codec. Leave the audio codec unchanged.
For Frame size, choose 1920x1080.
Check Interlaced Scaling, and for Field Dominance use Upper Field First, but if it looks bad, you can try checking "Deinterlace Video".
Click Make Movie. Give it a name and store it where you can find it.
Now try importing into iMovie using FILE/IMPORT MOVIE.
The convertor program worked great! Thanks for your help.
Hiya,
I have a slightly different problem perhaps you can help me with.
I have a Movie HD project (iMovie6) and have created a short film I intend to put on YouTube. The web-ready quicktime option in share results in a 320x240 film which does not look particularly good. I also have iMovie9 which would appear to allow me to save to YouTube at a far higher quality. Is there an easy way to get my iMovie6 into iMovie9? When I try the import option in the menu I can select the file but the film (with transitions, etc) is not imported. I have the original clips but would rather not start from square one if I can help it.
Any advice would be greatfully received.
Andrew
I had the same problem as gniatva and your solution worked perfect!!! thank you soo much
can't import videos into imovie from movie files
