Suddenly, no audio in MTS files in iMovie...??

Question

Suddenly, no audio in MTS files in iMovie...??

I've worked with MTS files in many projects currently in iMovie. Now suddenly all those files in all those projects I've worked on have no audio. Like iMovie suddenly does not recognize the audio on them and they're all completely silent with no audio.

ALL these files had audio before, and all I can think of that changed is I did a few updates on my Mac and in the app store. I believe this problem happened before and there's a quick fix for it but I can't remember what exactly. It's not missing the audio tracks or has any warning signs, the audio tracks are all there as they were before, just no sound.

Posted on Jan 8, 2018 12:05 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Rich839

Level 8

48,416 points

Jan 8, 2018 1:47 PM in response to Pete134q2q423423423

Current iMovie 10.1.8 and High Sierra does not convert the MTS files like it used to do in the past. Try converting the MTS files to Mp4/AAC using the free download, Handbrake. It will do that by default. Alternatively, if the MTS files will open in Quicktime Player, open them there and then save them to desktop. You would get a .mov file that might play with audio in iMovie.

-- Rich

Reply

Answer 2

LeonLB

Level 1

12 points

Feb 20, 2018 4:55 PM in response to Rich839

Thanks, Rich. Running the file through Handbrake and then importing into iMovie did the trick.

Reply

Answer 3

Jan 12, 2018 5:01 PM in response to Pete134q2q423423423

I was able to eventually fix it by downgrading to Sierra, the version of iMovie I had didn't work on El Capitan, so I went to Sierra and now everything works fine. Some words of "CAUTION" tho for ANYONE thinking they can just back up and downgrade to a previous OS. It doesn't work like that anymore. Apple will NOT allow you to migrate using migration assistant from a current OS to a previous one so you have to MANUALLY do it all, re-put in passwords, configure your entire library again, everything, took an ENTIRE day for me.

Reply

Answer 4

Rich839

Level 8

48,416 points

Jan 8, 2018 7:29 PM in response to Pete134q2q423423423

I don't know if downgrading to El Capitan will solve it. You could try restoring El Capitan from your Time Machine backup, if you have one, and see if it works.

EDIT: You might also have to restore the version of iMovie on which the files were originally imported.

I don't know what effect all this will have on your files and projects.

-- Rich

Reply

Answer 5

Jan 8, 2018 3:40 PM in response to Rich839

Would downgrading off High Sierra to El Capitain fix the issue? It would take forever on these projects to convert every single file for every single project. I'm looking at any way to get it to function like it should instead of the converting methods....I do really like Handbrake tho...

Reply

Answer 6

Jan 9, 2018 10:00 AM in response to Rich839

I was on Yosemite when it was working last, then I finally upgraded to Sierra, then suddenly I was upgraded to High Sierra outta nowhere....I was thinkin El Capitan cause it's at least a step up from where I was at last Spring....

Reply

Answer 7

Rich839

Level 8

48,416 points

Feb 20, 2018 5:20 PM in response to LeonLB

Glad it worked for you.

-- Rich

Reply