Unable to play video files created in iMovie

Hi, I have a 2017 Macbook pro running High Sierra 10.13.3


The issue is that I have created a video in iMovie which plays fine on iMovie's theatre function, but when I export it from iMovie to save as either an mp4 or .mov file, quicktime will only play the audio with a black screen.


My quicktime shows as version 10.4.


I don't understand how the MacBook's own video editor creates files it cannot play?


Any help with sorting this out much appreciated.

MacBook Pro, iOS 10.3.3

Posted on Feb 25, 2018 6:37 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Feb 25, 2018 8:01 AM

It could be a project-related issue or perhaps a corrupt font in the title or a corrupt transition.


Duplicate the new project and put all your edits back into the duplicate. See if it shares out.


If no success, try adding back your edits one at a time in the new project and share out each time until you get a bad share. The last edit added will be the one that caused it.


-- Rich

5 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Feb 25, 2018 8:01 AM in response to KRG22

It could be a project-related issue or perhaps a corrupt font in the title or a corrupt transition.


Duplicate the new project and put all your edits back into the duplicate. See if it shares out.


If no success, try adding back your edits one at a time in the new project and share out each time until you get a bad share. The last edit added will be the one that caused it.


-- Rich

Feb 25, 2018 7:49 AM in response to KRG22

Hi,


I can't recall seeing a report of your issue by others on the forum.


If you haven't already, update your iMovie version to current 10.1.8 that was designed for High Sierra.


Try opening iMovie while holding down the Option and Command keys, and selecting to delete preferences in the box that appears. See if that solves it.


If that doesn't work, try Edit/Select All/Edit/Copy, of the media in the project and Edit/Paste the media into a newly created project. Then see if it shares out.


-- Rich

Feb 25, 2018 7:48 AM in response to Rich839

Hi Rich, many thanks for your advice here, making some progress......


- I have iMovie 10.1.8 already.

- I deleted preferences and then shared the same original project to file, output said shared successfully as before but same problem, audio but no picture.

- I copied /pasted clips from original project to new one. This time I did not input a titles page, do any clip cutting or any transitions, just left the clips as imported, and shared to a new file and it works on QuickTime!


So one step forward but not sure which element of all the editing work I did caused the problem. Guess I will have to do it again one step at a time to find out?


Once again thanks for your time.

Kevin.

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

Unable to play video files created in iMovie

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.