How to prevent heap zone errors in iMovie'11

How to prevent heap zone errors before or during a new iMovie11 project

I read the discussion and sounds somewhat similar to how I fixed my heap zone error problem a year ago. I was trying to be proactive before starting my next large project to see if additional info is available.
Info on last year's project and how I corrected it: 40 min project for export to iDVD. OSX Lion, All updates installed, MACMINI lots of free HD space. I tried MANYsuggested discussion fixes available at that time, without success. Finally adopted an approach similar to that in you discussion. Step 1: removed the latest content until an export version worked; Step 2 - added a few minutes of content; Step 3 - exported until heap zone error reappeared; Step 4 - repeated steps 1-3 more than 30 times until able to export the entire project without the heap zone error. A tedious process but it worked. (Note: I was new to Apple and not using Time Machine)

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Are they gonna fix the "heap zone" error?

im new to the Mac community, ive been reading the forums and all, and nothing is fixing the heap zone error in imovie. does apple actually do anything about this?

We're not allowed to speculate about what Apple might do in the future on this forum.

Processing in imovie, not enough room in heap zone error

Hello, I am trying to process a 90 minute movie in imovie. I would like to process it in regular format and not high definition. Or if I have to process in high def, how do I create more space in my heap zone. The erroor message was processing in imovie, not enough room in heap zone error

I've never set it up since I purchased the computer. Time Machine is off. I'm extremely frustrated. I've tried to export to every possible place and I've tried to share to every option.

I am being plagued by that infamous "heap zone" error, can someone perform some magic and fix this for me?

Last night I tried to save an iMovie project that was a little over 5 minutes long, minimal transistions, moderate effects, minimal text, and some pictures and music. I have been attempting to export it at 1080p to a folder on my HD but I keep getting the heap zone error. What I don't get is a week ago I was able to export a very similar project about 4 and half minutes with no problem.
The basic specs of my Macbook Air (mid 2011 model, 11-inch running OS X 10.7) are: 120GB solid state hard drive, 4 GB of RAM, and a 1.6 GHz Intel core i5 processor. I currently have available around 13GB of storage left on the main drive, and I have an external connected (paired with Time Machine). Now, I have been researching this problem all last night and all this morning and several of the known "solutions" have not worked for me. Looking in my Activity Monitor it seems whenever I try to export this project through iMovie, the "Free" RAM just progressively drops until it hits about 450MB of RAM and then I get the heap zone error message. and while I have been able to free up about 2.5Gb of RAM prior to exporting the project, it still manages to eat up all but 400-500Mb and then gives me the error. I'm pretty lost at what to do. Here's what I've tried so far:
- First instinct, restarted the computer
- Closed out most of my usually running programs
- Used the "Purge" command in terminal to free up 'Inactive' RAM (though it only free'd up a little bit, it always stops at 400Mb)
- Downlaoded a Cache Cleaner and did a 'medium' cleaning of local and system cache
- Turned off Time Machine
- Tried saving to my external drive instead of the main one (so obviously it's not a storage issue)
- Eliminated the use of special characters from the title
- Closed all processes in the Activity Monitor that weren't vital or being run by the system
None of those worked and I consistently got the heap zone error at the same point, about 1/10 of the way through in 'Preparing Project' Is there any other solutions to this problem? Preferrably ones that don't involve, deleting significant files or items from my drive, re-installing the OS, or any other drastic system changes because afterall my system hasn't drastically changed in the past week that iMovie WAS working so this has to be a simple fix.
I'm really just getting annoyed and fed up with this so PLEASE someone have the right answer.

Hi
This is a complex Error - so this is the notes I've got - so far
Error -108 memFullErr Ran out of memory [not enough room in heap zone]
Turn off - TimeMachine usually works - re-try.
(the Application down in the Dock - not the Device)
But this can mean many thing's - My first thought is
• Free Space on Start-Up hard disk. How much ? (other disks do not count)
AppleMan1958
Are your event clips in h.264? If so, you can solve this by Right clicking on your Event Name and choose "Optimize Media". You can choose Full for 1080P or Large for 960P according to your preference.
After you have optimized your Event, you should be able to Share with no problem.
Lennart Thelander
-108 mean you are running out of (free) RAM.
Try restarting the computer just prior to sharing. That frees up RAM.
from mynameisearl
Final Entry
Ok - after much cutting, trial and error and days of work I have never really established a root cause for the -108 error. Nothing I did resolved the issue to the orginal project.
The only work around I have found is to split the Original Project into two.
What I found was that anything around the 60 mins mark and above just failed to render in HD and showed the -108 error.
What worked for me was creating two project files - one around 57mins long - the other a part 2 - around 17 mins long. All using exactly the same source clips, photo's, music and transitions as the orginal.
This now works. I guess having it split in two makes it a little easier to work with as I wont have to keep rendering the first part which does not change but really wish Apple would throw some light on this.
Anyway - I hope all of the above at least proves useful for others.
Good Luck
Yours Bengt W

Heap zone errors

EVERY time I try to export a movie using iMovie 11, I encounter heap zone errors. Is Apple aware of these errors, and if so, how do we stop them from occurring? Right now, iMovie '11 is f*&cking useless.

Hi
Some things to try
Error -108 memFullErr Ran out of memory [not enough room in heap zone]
• Turn off - TimeMachine usually works - re-try.
Can mean many thing's - My first thought is
• Free Space on Start-Up hard disk. How much ? (other disks do not count)
Also one thing that causes many problems are - Speed Up resp Speed Down of Clips in the Movie Project.
• By keeping this to the pre-set 100%, 50% etc it works - but by using the slider and in between values creates a lot of strange problems.
Just a thought
Yours Bengt W

Why do i keep getting this Heap Zone error

I have been trying and trying to export this movie i made in iMovie to iDVD. It is 35 min long and every time i try to export it to iDVD it gets like 3/4 of the way done and then it gives me this heap zone error. The movie is all pictures and are all in JPG format. I have made movies like this before and never got this error. The other movies i have created are 3 to 5 min long and have exported without a problem. I have tried to export it in numerous ways and i get the same error every time. Im running a Macbook Pro with pleanty of hard drive space and 4GB of RAM. I have tried the renaming the movie, restarting the computer, and reseting the RAM. I have disconnected all other devices including the mouse. Nothing but iMovie is running and when i watch activity moniter almost all of the active RAM goes to iMovie until it gets to about 25MB or free RAM and then it fails. I have tried almost everything and from what i've seen on the internet, this is a really big deal and a lot of people are having this problem. Apple needs to fix this.

Hi
To free up hard disk space
• You trash what You don't want any more - and Empty trash-basket (lost for ever)
• You move files and material to an external hard disk
• You move Movie Events and Projects WITHIN The iMovie Program - NOT ON DESKTOP/Finder
( DO NOT MOVE or adjust any folder named iMovie Events or iMovie Projects - if done iMovie loses track of them and they can be destroyed to an un-repairable state)
If You move Events and/or Projects within iMovie to an external hard disk then there is one MUST and one Should
• MUST - it must be Mac OS Extended (HFS) formatted as UNIX/DOS/FAT32/Mac OS Exchange will not work FOR VIDEO (everything else but not this)
• Should be a FireWire one - as USB/USB2 performs badly to me
Trash the pref file
• Delete iMovie pref. file
iMovie pref. file resides.
Mac Hard Disk (start-up HD)/Users/"Your account"/Library/Preferences
and is named. (one or more of these)
com.apple.iMovie.plist
com.apple.iMovie3.plist
com.apple.iMovie7.plist
com.apple.iMovie8.plist
com.apple.iMovie9.plist
com.apple.iMovieApp.plist
and find
com.apple.iApps.plist
While iMovie is NOT RUNNING - move this/these file/s out on to desk-top.
Now restart iMovie.
If You run Mac OS X.7 or more - then the Library in the User-account folder is invisibly and need to be set to be viewable. IT IS NOT in the Library on Root level (when opening MacintoshHD - first window = root level)
( It can be done like this: Open Terminal, then enter: chflags nohidden ~/Library
Press return, then restart, and it will always be visible until the next major update, when you do the same thing again. )
Yours Bengt W - AND A VERY HAPPY NEW 2012 !

How will I resolve -108 error on imovie whenever I try to import my project to dvd?

how will I resolve -108 error on imovie whenever I try to import my project to dvd?

Hi,
There may not be enough free space on your Mac's startup disk to import the dvd project to.
Right or control click the MacintoshHD icon. Click Get Info. In the Get Info window you will see Capacity and Available. Make sure there's a minimum of 15% free disk space.
Freeing Up Hard Disk Space - Mac GuidesFreeing Up Hard Disk Space - Mac Guides

How do I export from IMovie when "not enough room in Heap Zone" error code appears? How can I correct, what to Do.."export movie" insteand of Media browser or IDVD? Finalize movie? I want to burn it to DVD!

How do I export from IMovie to Wondershare Creator to Make DVD and share hour long movie when I am unable to "publish" movie on Media Browser of IDVD because the error code "not enough room in heap Zone/ " appears and function is aborted.
I shortened the movie, that is no cure...Correcting date info on clips does not pertain. Why would Apple throw roadblocks in your way without solving problems they create?
A techie made an appointment on the phone and was totally incapable of addressing the problem.
What is a heap zone????

Instead of Share to Media Browser, what happens if you try Share Menu > Export Movie... (choose Large size) and save it to the Desktop?
If that fails try Share Menu > Export using QuickTime...
Then pick Movie to QuickTime Movie, then click on Options... which is just to the right of Export
Under the Video section click on Settings...
Then in the pulldown menu at the top, titled Compression Type: Choose Apple Intermediate Codec. Then click OK. And click OK again, and save it to the desktop. Once the .mov file is created, you can import that into iDVD and most likely it will work in Wondershare Creator if you prefer to use that instead.

IMovie 11 'heap zone' error :(

i've checked all prior posts and solutions, tried everything: renaming project, removed slide transitions, clearing caches, deleting plists, restarting, turning off airport, bought a $30 program to optimize and defrag hard disk, I even reinstalled imovie AND OS X Lion!!! it won't even export my project at the lowest video size settings or in quicktime. It worked fine up until a couple weeks ago. My video is less than 5 minutes long and all clips are in MOV or MP4 format which has worked in the past. If anyone can help I would greatly appreciate it! Thanks in advance.

Hi
May be here is the solution
all clips are in MOV or MP4 format which has worked in the past.
.mov and .mp4 - are no formats - they are containers and can hold Video-Codecs iMovie/iDVD can use OR CAN NOT.
Open them - each one of them - in QuickTime-Player
Then open Inspector [cmd+I] and read
Video Format : nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn - AND -
Frame Rate : yyyyyyyy
What does they say ?
Error -108 memFullErr Ran out of memory [not enough room in heap zone]
Turn off - TimeMachine usually works - re-try.
(the Application down in the Dock - not the Device)
But this can mean many thing's - My first thought is
• Free Space on Start-Up hard disk. How much ? (other disks do not count)
Yours Bengt W

IMovie Heap Zone Error

I am running iMovie 11 9.0.0 only because 9.0.2 makes the exported audio sound like crap.
But anyway, I was able to export a short 5 minute HD 1080p movie, but am unable to export an 18 minute HD 1080 movie. When I try to export, it goes through the Preparing Project for about a good hour and half, and about 3/4 of the way through, it says time remaining is an hour but then I get a message:
Unable to prepare project (Not enough room in heap zone)
I have almost 50 gigs of memory left on the HD, so I dont understand why this is happening?
Please help?

Everyone:
This pretty much explains it all. Copied from MacRumors:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=17403332&postcount=7
I have the "true" answer to this age old question. It was also confirmed for me by a senior tech advisor at Apple. Here is my case number you can reference to prove it. Case #454595897. There is no fix. iMovie is a 32bit application and OS X is a 64bit operating system. A 32bit application can never use more than 3.4GB of RAM. iMovie tries to pull everything into RAM when rendering. So, if your entire project contains more than 3.4GB of data, it will NOT render the movie. iMovie will also start behaving strange as it gets close to it limit.
You have two options. Split the project in half and render each separately. OR pay $300 for Final Cut Pro which is a 64bit application. Save your money on the RAM. More RAM just lets you have more 32bit applications open at once. Pay more for 64bit applications vs RAM. A lot of people trouble shooting this problem think they solve it by doing special tricks but it is just a coincidence that they may have did something that made the project just small enough to render.
I hope this saves people a lot of time to make up for the time I wasted.

Parameter and/or heap zone error message?? What does that mean?

I have a movie I have made for my dad's 50th class reunion with only pics, music, and transitions. It is about 20 min in length. Everytime i go to finalize, share, etc i get the error message heap zone and/or parameter message. I need this done tomorrow and freaking out right now. What should I do???? nNeeds to be burned on a dvd in the next 24 hrs.

Hi
A. I never use Finalize as this only takes up lot's of Hard Disk space and takes long time to do for me - and the resulting DVD is non the better as I can see.
B. From iMovie'08 to 11 - I Share to Media Browser and as LARGE or MEDIUM - as sending HD or other resolution to iDVD gives loss in picture quality.
C. I NEVER - use Share to iDVD in any version of iMovie - as resulting DVD will not be as good as I want it
(D. I rarely use iMovie'08 to 11 - as this too costs in quality loss on the final DVD - Non of them can deliver 100% interlaced SD-Video to iDVD but discards every second line in the picture going from Event's to Project's and this can not be mended - I use iMovie HD6 or FinalCut as they can deliver 100%)
E. In iDVD I always Saves as a DiskImage and test this with DVD-player tool to see that all is OK (especially the sound). Then I use Disk Util tool to burn this Image to a DVD.
Error -108 memFullErr Ran out of memory [not enough room in heap zone]
Turn off - TimeMachine usually works - re-try.
(the Application down in the Dock - not the Device)
But this can mean many thing's - My first thought is
• Free Space on Start-Up hard disk. How much ? (other disks do not count)
Yours Bengt W

How to make room in the "heap zone"?

I have made a video project for school with imovie 9.0.4, and it is only 6 and a half minutes long. It is due tomorrow, and whenever I try to finalize, share, post to youtube, or make a DVD, i keep getting the error "not enough space in heap zone". How do I make room? I really need to fix this.

This is maddening for many people, and what's worse is that you're not told of this supposed lack of room in the 'heap zone' until quite a bit of time has elapsed (it happens to me during 'Finalize'). I mean, if I don't have enough room in this mysterious & arcane 'Heap Zone,' tell me right away; not a half-hour into it. People have deadlines; they need to complete their projects. Or, they simply need to get to sleep!
Like with other people, the supposed 'fixes' mentioned above aren't fixes at all. This 'Heap Zone' error message is SO 'Windows-like.' It would be 'Apple-like' if you could go to the System Preferences and instantly make this 'Heap Zone' bigger.
iMovie is a very good and well-integrated application...except for this.

Imovie 11 Can't Export Movies NOT ENOUGH ROOM IN THE HEAP ZONE!

I have plenty of space on my hard drive, no other programs are running, and the video being exported is only 6 minutes and 57 seconds long.
I am working on a short film and 90% of the time that I try and export it in 720 I get an error, because there is not enough room in the heap zone. Then after I restart the computer if I am lucky I can get it to export 1 out of 10 trys. It has nothing to do with the title I give the video.
I need the video exported in 1080, but it gives me the same error EVERY TIME! Even when I export to quicktime and use various settings I keep getting the same heap zone error. What is the deal!?! I have exported an hour long documentary and didn't have this problem. I erased all my previous projects and events and still I get this error
UNABLE TO EXPORT MOVIE
The movie could not be exported because an error occurred. (Not enough room in the heap zone /)
HELP PLEASE!!!!!!!

I have the same problem when trying to export a 720P movie to iTunes. Reboot did not help nor did renaming the project. I have an older MacPro with dual 3.0s, 11 Gb Ram and slightly less than 1Tb free space on the boot drive. This is a software issue, not a hardware problem. Apple please fix the myriad of problems with iMovie 11. My productivity has ground to a halt with my 4 month old iLife Software. How did this software ever pass muster!!!!! I can't believe anyone would purchase the new version of Final Cut given the horrible product you've included with the last iLife Set. This is an example of why I left the Microsoft Windows community. SHAME ON YOU!!!!!! I usually create 4 to 5 movies a month for the flying community I live in. I have completed one since January, and it was a mess due to software glitches. My attempt to re-render an old iMovie 9 creation has been met with failure. I have projects backing up and really have no desire to finish them or create others as iMovie 11 is no longer fun since it is broken. I'm tired of iPhoto 11 and iMovie crashing or not working and the reason for spending more on an Apple product no longer exists. Outdated expensive hardware and buggy software. Time to sell my APPL stock like Bob Mansfield, You're ignoring your core supporters and are living off the hype of the iPhone/iPad. The poor economy has allowed your "halo effect" to endure many recent short-comings - (Mobile Me (how slow and expensive can it be to stream a personal home movie - but don't worry you don't need Blu-Ray)), Mail (why do I keep getting duplicate emails in my drafts folder? and why is it always losing my password - just like Mail on my iPhone), Never providing a stable video card for 2006 Mac Pros, Crippled iPhone 4 for Verizon, no iPad Flash support, iLife Crapware)............where's the Tylenol!!!!! I need it since I promised an iMovie project for a friend's memorial that I am now unable to deliver.

How can i fix this problem?? "The project could not be prepared for publishing because an error occurred. (Not enough room in heap zone / )"

The project could not be prepared for publishing because an error occurred. (Not enough room in heap zone / )
how can i fix this problem?

how can i fix this problem?
Go to the right forum.
This forum is for mobile iMovie.
you may need the iMovie Mac forum:
https://discussions.apple.com/community/ilife/imovie

What does "The project could not be prepared for publishing because an error occurred. (Not enough room in heap zone / )" mean?

When I click on finalize project in iMovie, an error message comes up that says "The project could not be prepared for publishing because an error occurred. (Not enough room in heap zone / )". How do I fix it, and what does it mean?

re-post in the iMovie forum where all the people that use that software are. This is the Lion 10.7 forum.

How to prevent heap zone errors in iMovie'11

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