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User profile for user: TheOldFart
TheOldFart Author
User level: Level 1
12 points

Importing movies from Photos into iMovie

Hello all -

I am running OS Sierra with Photos 2.0 and iMovie 10.1.6. After I load a movie from my iPhone into Photos, I have a nice viewable movie that I would like to edit in iMovie. I export that movie from Photos into a file in my homesite. The movie is exported successfully as an m4p file, which I can view with Quick Time. But when I attempt to import that file into iMovie, it tells me it can't import m4p files. And I did not see any option in Photos to export the movie in any other format.

So how do I get a movie from my iPhone into iMovie via Photos?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts.

- TheOldFart

MacBook Pro with Retina display, macOS Sierra (10.12), 8GB 500GB

Posted on Jan 19, 2018 6:15 PM

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User profile for user: Rich839
Rich839
User level: Level 8
47,256 points

Posted on Jan 19, 2018 7:17 PM

Hi,


First, you might consider updating to current iMovie 10.1.8 and High Sierra. When you update to High Sierra you will automatically get current Photos 3.0. That might get everything working.


Even with your present apps, you can open iMovie and click on the Photos Library item in the side bar to access your videos from the Photos app. When you click on the Photos Library item your Photos content will be displayed in the browser screen, and from there you can drag them into projects.


However, you should also be able to import your videos from your desktop, as you are attempting to do. When you say "M4p" file I take it you mean M4v? iMovie supports that format, so I don't know why it is giving you the rejection message that you describe. If you exported from iPhone 7 or later, by default it would export as a HEVC file format that iMovie 10.1.6 can't work with. You can check the format by control-clicking on the video's icon on your desktop and selecting Get Info. The dropdown box will show you the format. If that's the case you will need to convert it to Mp4 or other format that iMovie supports.


In any event, try opening your video in Quicktime Player and then save it to your desktop. You will get a .mov file that iMovie also supports. Try to drag that into iMovie and see if it imports.


-- Rich

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User profile for user: Rich839
Rich839
User level: Level 8
47,256 points

Jan 19, 2018 7:17 PM in response to TheOldFart

Hi,


First, you might consider updating to current iMovie 10.1.8 and High Sierra. When you update to High Sierra you will automatically get current Photos 3.0. That might get everything working.


Even with your present apps, you can open iMovie and click on the Photos Library item in the side bar to access your videos from the Photos app. When you click on the Photos Library item your Photos content will be displayed in the browser screen, and from there you can drag them into projects.


However, you should also be able to import your videos from your desktop, as you are attempting to do. When you say "M4p" file I take it you mean M4v? iMovie supports that format, so I don't know why it is giving you the rejection message that you describe. If you exported from iPhone 7 or later, by default it would export as a HEVC file format that iMovie 10.1.6 can't work with. You can check the format by control-clicking on the video's icon on your desktop and selecting Get Info. The dropdown box will show you the format. If that's the case you will need to convert it to Mp4 or other format that iMovie supports.


In any event, try opening your video in Quicktime Player and then save it to your desktop. You will get a .mov file that iMovie also supports. Try to drag that into iMovie and see if it imports.


-- Rich

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Importing movies from Photos into iMovie

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