convert files from imovie library

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Level 1

4 points

convert files from imovie library

Hello -

I have a decade's worth of home videos in an imovie library residing on an external HD. I no longer have access to the original source videos. I would like access to each individual clip/movie instead of just having everything in the larger library container (essentially I'm looking to have a more open and accessible file structure.)

What is the best way to go about regaining control of my individual files? Are there particular movie-making software products I should instead use going forward, once I have access to all of my individual clips?

Thanks for any information you can share to help with this conversion!

Posted on May 5, 2016 9:55 PM

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Answer 1

Klaus1

Level 9

52,749 points

May 6, 2016 1:56 AM in response to kttom

What version of iMovie were these files created on? What version of iMovie do you now have? What version of OS X are you running?

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Answer 2

kttom Author

Level 1

4 points

May 6, 2016 5:08 PM in response to kttom

Hi! Thanks for your reply.

Since the files span 10 years, they have been created in different versions of iMovie. I believe the first one was ~2006, so perhaps IMovie HD 5. All of those files are .dv clips. The rest of the newer files are .mov, I think. The newest version of iMovie I have is 10.0.5.

However, today I was using a friend's computer and loaded up my iMovie library since we were working on a video together. It turns out he had iMovie 10.1.2 and now when I go back to open my library on my own computer, my entire library is no longer accessible in 10.0.5 so I'm not sure if that changes your answer at all. I'm really kicking myself for this.

I am running OS 10.9.5.

Thanks for any advice you can provide to 1) have my entire library accessible again and 2) extract my video files out of the library so as to avoid what happened today.

Thank you!

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Answer 3

Klaus1

Level 9

52,749 points

May 7, 2016 2:24 AM in response to kttom

You need to update movie to the latest version, BUT

There is no backwards compatibility from iMove HD 5 or 6 to iMovie 10. You will need to use an application like Handbrake to convert the old files to something that iMovie 10 can use.

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Answer 4

kttom Author

Level 1

4 points

May 7, 2016 8:01 AM in response to Klaus1

Thank you for all of this information! I will certainly look into updating to the latest iMovie, but I was able to restore an older version of my iMovie library last night (minus the work that I had done yesterday,) so for now I have my older version library back up and all old movies accessible on 10.0.5.

Given that, I'm still hoping there's an easy way to extract all of these movie files from my library to have access to individually? I'm thinking I'd have to move away from iMovie to maintain the file structure I'd like, but my first step is getting all of those editable files (and their time/date stamps etc) out in an easy way.

Thanks for any thoughts on this.

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Answer 5

May 7, 2016 10:51 AM in response to kttom

If you want to get to the imported clips from within iMovie ....

iMovie HD 6 ( HD 5 possibly the same ) ctrl click on each project via Finder and select Show Package Contents> Media

Here you will see your imported files, e.g. .dv or .mov

For iMovie ver 8 or 9 (aka iMovie '09 , iMovie '11) Finder>Movies >iMovie Events.Then select an Event and your imported media will be displayed.

You can copy this media to another location if you wish.

Your .dv clips and .mov clips( most likely Apple Intermediate Codec ) should be able to be used in iMovie 10 without having to be transcoded ( i.e. no need for Handbrake).

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Answer 6

kttom Author

Level 1

4 points

May 8, 2016 8:37 AM in response to thesurreyfriends

Thank you for this response. I'll give it a try!

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