iPhoto won't import .mov files from iPhone

I had this same problem on MacBook Pro that I just upgraded to el capitan. Opened iPhoto (I didn't want to switch to Photos yet) and tried to upload photos + video from my camera card as usual. It saw all files, but gave the same error screen shown above on the .mov videos. They would play on QuickTime so I used that to convert them to .m4v - however iPhoto gave the same error on the .m4v files. In frustration, I closed iPhoto and considered using Photos...but instead reopened iPhoto. And this time, spontaneously, it identified the 4 .mov files as new, and when I imported them they played just fine!

Silly, but try opening, closing, and reopening iPhoto without removing the camera card - that is all I did and suddenly it was able to handle the .mov files.

I'll be curious to hear if this works for anyone else.

What does the screenshot show? The picture is not showing for me, due to the buggy forum software.

How are you importing? USB cable? iTunes sync?

LN

As a Test:

Hold down the option (or alt) key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Create Library'

Import a few pics into this new, blank library. Is the Problem repeated there?

Post back with the result.

There are many, many posts of this nature in these forums. See, for example:

iphoto won’t import mov video

For many, rebuilding the XPC helper cache solves the problem off the bat. In terminal try this, and reboot:

sudo /usr/libexec/xpchelper --rebuild-cache

The above posted by Andy Ball on a thread related to a similar problem with Aperture:

Re: Import video to Aperture library on Mountain Lion

Other things to try:

1. create a fresh iPhoto library and try that. (hold down opt while launching iPhoto)

2. create a new OS X user (in system preferences) and try there.

In my case – and many cases – neither of those things work either, which means the problem is system wide. Again suggesting that the xpc helper solution might work. But for me it did not either.

There are other suggestions that there are conflicts with Perian (on Yosemite) and flip4mac. In my case uninstalling both of those didn't solve it either.

So maybe one of those solutions will work for you, results apparently vary. But this is a huge unresolved issue many others are having as well. I have a case with a senior apple advisor open, still unresolved. His suggestion of course, at this point, is an archive and re-install. I'm not ready to go there yet.

BTW, another thing he had me try was to import the file with Image Capture (which works). Then open it in QuickTime Player X. Then try exporting to 480p. Does QuickTime crash? It does for me.

My summary:

1. Files successfully import with Image Player.

2. Files play with QuickTime Player X.

3. QuickTime Player X crashes when exporting to 480p.

4. Files import with iMove.

5. Files fail to import with iPhoto (unrecognized format as with OP)

6. iPhoto import failure/errors are system wide and not specific to a library or a user.

7. rebuilding xpchelper cache and rebooting in my case does not resolve issue.

8. same videos import fine in iPhoto on a totally different system (laptop running same versions of OS X 10.10 and iPhoto 9.5.1)

Hi

this works for me:

Connect your phone and open iphoto:

Import all your photos.

You´ll get your érror´message that it cant import certain files. (see above )

Leave iphoto open.

Disconnect your phone/ipad from your mac.

Reconnect your phone to the mac ( iphoto still open )

Iphoto will now recognize the files ( vids ) that it previously coudn´t import, as ´new´ files.

Import them.

You´ll now get another ´error´message telling you it cant import certain files - this time less - BUT it will have imported some of your files.

Repeat the connect / disconnect / import procedure till you get all your files on the Mac.

It´s not optimal but it works for me. I hope this helps.

John

Yeah this works for me too. Talk about a pain in the you know what though.

This worked, thanks!

Unfortunately it didn't work for me. I'm also unable to import via Image Capture. I also tried to bring the .MOV in vis Dropbox and that didn't work. I'm on a 52 minute phone hold with iPhoto app Apple Care. As I was being passed to the next Tech I was told that because I upgraded my iOS to 9.1 it is mostly incompatible with my iPhotos 11 vs 9.2.1 running on OS 10.8.5. The iOS upgrade is to shift to the newer Photos and Yosemite. Because of Professional 3 party Apps on my 17" Powerbook I can't upgrade to Yosemite.

FYI I did have success importing with a lower rez version of it, which is FAR less than optimal, by opening it into the App "Video Slimmer" which then compresses it and puts a smaller sized file in the Camera Roll and that DID import.

I'll post the results of the phone call, assuming I don't get disconnected which is what I'm betting will happen! Yeah, call me a cynic.

He said it sounds like an operating system issue. My next step is to install a fresh version of 10.8.5 and if that doesn't work then it is the incompatibility of iOS 9.1 and 10.8.5.

BTW while I was on hold I successfully imported the movie files into my wife's iMac which is running El Capitan and using the program Photos. I'll try to export them onto a flash drive and bring them into my computer/

So, iPhoto did import the file from the flash drive. But, it was no longer a .MOV file but a .m4v. It was taking her iMac forever to try and export the file unmodified so I gave up and chose the other method. I would have thought compressing it would have taken longer.

Also, I pulled out my iPhone 5 and shot some video and that imported without a hitch. Seems to support the incompatibility theory. Wish I had known iOS 9.1 was going to complicate my life like this!