No 4:3 aspect ratio option in iMovie 10.0

My comment on sellecting a section directly wasn't meant to replace projects, even if you can sellect mulitple section it won't allow you to put titles or transitions. It was just my results on how I got the exporting list to show a 4:3 ratio.

From what I've seen, if you want to export a 4:3 ratio clip from a porject with out the black boarders the clip must have a 4:3 ratio. If it's a little off it will only give you a 16:9 ratio choice even if that means adding a black boarder.

This is how I did it: First export the video to 16:9 (with black bars on the sides of the video), and then download the free utility "HandBrake" and run a post-processing conversion on the video to crop it to the 4:3 ratio. It's stupid that we have to do that, but at least it works.

I'm working on over 60 reels of 8mm and Super-8 home movies that I just paid $1,000 to transfer. They are of course all in 4:3 aspect ratio.

The lack of explicit support for this is absurd, Apple!

iMovie 10's Preferences dialog only has two options in it. Really? You can't expose a default aspect ratio option or allow us to set that per project?

I met this problem as well when I was preparing preview video from iPad, which also is in 4:3 format (1200x900).
The solution is very simple and you don't need to mess with any 3rd party software everyone recommends here and there 😉

1. Don't create new project! It only lets you create 16:9 videos as you noticed.
2. Instead, choose menu File > Import media... [cmd]+[i] and select the sample file of video you want to work with.

Since then, iMovie works in the resolution of original file and even lets you export it in it's original pixel size and ratio.

Enjoy 😉

I'm sorry, I have just realized, it's not possible after all.

If you select imported video in the library, iMovie of course lets you export it in original format. But, is seems it won't let you edit it in any way...

😟

I'm working on over 60 reels of 8mm and Super-8 home movies that I just paid $1,000 to transfer. They are of course all in 4:3 aspect ratio.

I use iMovie HD 06 for this type of job. There, you will find your 4:3 aspect ratio. With iMovie HD 06 you can easily share to iDVD for making DVDs.

iMovie HD 06 is readily available on Amazon as part of iLife 06.

If you decide to share your movies online, I would use any service other than YouTube.

There's a freeware called HandBrake, and it lets you crop videos to any size you want, pixel by pixel.

I just finished using iMove 10 to stitch together some videos from my iPhone 6 in portrait (vertical) orientation. I didn't like the huge black spaces on the sides, so after exporting the movie to an mp4 file, I used HandBrake to give me a tight crop. I went from 1920 x 1080 pixels to 608 x 1080 pixels. It worked like a charm. No black spaces, and I didn't lose any of my picture. You can even preview the crop while you adjust it.

HandBrake also lets you do a ton of other video editing things. Parsing and whatnot. It's pretty swanky. They have a wiki that explains all the settings and how to use them.

Download HandBrake here: https://handbrake.fr/

Here's where they talk about cropping: https://trac.handbrake.fr/wiki/PictureSettings

Enjoy!

Actually, for my case, I realized I could have achieved the same result by rotating the video to landscape orientation in iMovie (which is 16:9 for the iPhone 6), then exporting it to mp4, then using QuickTime to rotate it back to portrait orientation. With this method, the resolution was still 608 x 1080.

After some digging, I figured out how to use HandBrake to rotate my landscape orientation movie and still keep the original resolution, resulting in 1080 x 1920. This can't be done with the GUI version of HandBrake but instead you have to download the command line version, HandBrakeCLI.

First, a public service announcement: Before using Terminal to do things via the root directory (which is where you need to install HandBrakeCLI), make sure you know what you're doing or else you might mess up your computer.

Ok, here's how it's done... it's pretty easy, all you need is a single command after installing the binary....

Download HandBrakeCLI here: https://handbrake.fr/downloads2.php

Install it here: http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/85731/how-do-i-install-handbrake-cli

Check out basic HandBrakeCLI usage here: https://trac.handbrake.fr/wiki/CLIGuide

Read tips on rotating here: http://superuser.com/questions/418985/can-handbrake-flip-rotate-a-video

To rotate 270 degrees clockwise and preserve the original resolution of my iPhone movie montage, I used this command in Terminal:

HandBrakeCLI -i source.mp4 -o target.mp4 -e x264 -q 20 -B 160 --rotate="7"

where "source.mp4" is replaced with the file path of the original video (input),

"target.mp4" is replaced with the file path of the final video (output), and

"7" can be replaced with a different number for a different kind of rotation or flip.

Here's the full list of rotation options:

1 : x flip

2 : y flip

3 : 180 degrees rotate (also the DEFAULT)

4 : 90 degrees rotate (clockwise)

5 : 90 degrees rotate + y flip

6 : 270 degrees rotate + y flip

7 : 270 degrees rotate

The extra settings (

-e x264 -q 20 -B 160

So if you just want to crop and not rotate/flip, then use HandBrake (GUI or CLI) to crop your video. If you want to rotate/flip (with or without cropping), then use HandBrakeCLI. I didn't lookup the CLI command for cropping, but if you don't feel like looking it up, you could rotate with CLI and then crop with the GUI. The live preview is nice, after all.

Handbrake did EXACTLY what I wanted it to do. I didn't even have to put in the dimensions...it knew somehow. Thanks for that suggestion. I was about to fork over money for a paid program!

Of course Apple is not going to "fix" something they intentionally broke. They put all the useable features in the "free" software to get us invested in their "process" and then move that process to the software they actually make money on (read: Final Cut and Quicktime).

Looks like the Microsoft's business model won after all. It's just Apple that's profiting from it. In the mean time, their loyal customers end up scratching their heads: "Is this really an Apple product? Cuz it sure doesn't work the same way that a Microsoft product doesn't work."

IJS

Hardly anyone still uses the old-fashioned 4:3 ratio any more. When did you last see a 4:3 TV set?

Apple have simply moved with the times.

I am also trying to move with the times by transferring my old VHS tapes to digital. With Apple's improvements, this is now more difficult. I dropped M$ for the same reasons. IJS

Are you kidding me??

Some of us are trying to create video that LOOKS historic, for specific production purposes. Which means using the old 4:3 aspect ration for authenticity. Dammit, I'm an Apple girl for DECADES, and they're driving me away, bit by bit.

I feel your pain!

Which is why I continue to use iMovie 6 - disliking all later versions! 😉