iMovie clips fail to share/export

Hi,

In iMovie 10 you cannot share individual clips out of a project, but you can share them from the media browser in library view. Select the clip and do File/Share. If it does not work for you try opening iMovie while holding down the Option and Command keys and selecting to delete preferences in the box that appears. iMovie will open in a new library. Reopen your old library to get back to your projects. Then see if you can share your clips.

-- Rich

It seems that some new bug has cropped up (sometime in the last 6 months) when attempting to share (export a file) in Good, Medium or Low quality. These are all Mp4 formats. If you export in ProRes format it seems there is no problem.

Even old projects will encounter problems in the Mp4 share attempt.

PRESENT WORK AROUND:

Export in ProRes and use QuickTime to convert to another formate.

Direct upload via YouTube using their Uploader does not seem to be a problem when ProRes format is uploaded.

AT THE PRESENT:

There seems to be a time factor (not much more than 3 minute project) and computer type involved (iMac late 2013) is a problem for me but not other computers I operate/own

There is another thread on this problem:

iMovie Wont Export Unless ProRes???

I am actively working with support staff who are working with engineering.

Even trying to export a 5 minute iPhone video to Good quality results in a crash of my iMac.

I have posted extensive notes in the thread above.

Good luck.

Don

Since it "can't encode" the clips, they may be in a format that iMovie is having trouble with. Pick one clip and convert it to Mp4/AAC using the free download Handbrake. See if that will export.

Try putting the clip into a project and see i it will expirt.

If still unsuccessful, 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.

-- Rich

If you have deleted preferences, reinstalled iMovie, and converted the clip as suggested -- and still no luck -- then possibly a visit to the genius bar at your local Apple store would be in order. They have testing equipment and technical expertise that is not available on a support community website like this one.

There can be many reasons for share failures in addition to the ones so far mentioned in this thread. These would include insufficient space in the destination drive, corruption in the clip, incompatible frame rate (50fps), incompatible resolution (2.7k vids), use of the lpcm audio codec in Mp4, and so on. Possibly some conflict on your computer would cause it as well. I and many others are running iMovie 10.1.9 with High Sierra and are not having this problem, indicating that the issue probably is not indigenous to the software. That's not to question in any way those who do have the export issue.

The only other diagnostic things that I can suggest, other than the genius bar, are the following:

1. Open iMovie in a new user account and see if the problem persists there.

2. Open iMovie in a newly created library.

3. Boot up in Safe Mode (see Help Menu) and, after everything loads, immediately shut down and reboot in normal mode. That might clear out any conflicts that exist.

4. Try sharing to Theater.

5. Share out in Best Quality (pro res).

6. Confirm that your external drive is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled).

7. Reinstall your operating system (back up everything first).

I hope that you and any others who might be experiencing this problem can find a solution. Perhaps another contributor to this forum who has resolved it will chime in here. Meanwhile, best of luck with this.

-- Rich

Try a reinstall of iMovie.

--Rich

Well, all is well that ends well.

With the help of Emily, go between with Engineering. Problem solved.

testing iPhone and GoPro video. 3 to 5 minutes long.

I have 4 x 4gb RAM memory chips, from bottom up, removed top two, tested problem, iMac (late 2013) crashed on share to file of good (Mp4) quality to desktop.

Took bottom two out and replaced them with top two previously taken out and tested problem. iMac (late 2013) saved on share to file of good (Mp4) quality to desktop.

Put original bottom two into top two slots and tested share to file. Crash.

The problem has all along been a memory RAM chip problem.

Thanks to Emily and Apple engineers for pushing me thru the fog...

Don

I have the same issue as noted above by HoneyB2018. I have been successfully exporting individual video segments from iMovie Library for many years, including the last few days. iMovie became unresponsive this morning, I shut it down, restarted and now it won't export any video clips at all.

I have tried all of the above recommendations, still not working. Any help appreciated.

Go figure. Sometimes some little glitch somewhere that causes trouble can mysteriously disappear. Glad you resolved it.

-- Rich

Wow, I tried the same thing and it now works! Thank you.