Imovie file sizes

I imported a full tape (video file) from my camcorder which shows around 12 Gb. I have deleted clips and resaved the file to create 3 different files to import in to idvd but all three files are still 12Gb when they are alot shorter then the original. The problem now is I have no more room to create any more movie files so what do I need to do to reduce these files - thanks
PS I have borrowed a copy of Final Cut Express but find this to complicated to use, but would this help with this problem - even to reduce the file sizes so I can go back to i movie again to finish of the movies.

Hi TLP,
Due to the "non-destructive" feature of iMovie HD, the trimmed clips are not really removed from the project. This is why you see the same file size for all 3 files. Use File > Share, select QuickTime, and Full Quality in pop-up menu, this will allow you to export a new QuickTime file containing only the clips on the timeline/clip viewer. (note: if you have chapter markers put in, the markers are not exported). You can directly import the QT file into iDVD, or you can re-import it into a new iMovie project for furhter editing, e.g. add chapter markers, etc.

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IMovie file size explosion

My first iMovie project was a video of my nieces and nephews compiled from old VHS and Hi8 tape imported to my Sony DV camcorder, edited on my iMac using iMovie 4, then burned to a disk using iDVD (it was about a 40 minute movie). I showed it to my siblings an parents over the holidays and it was a big hit (except for an audio syncronization issue). After showing the video, my sister gave me an old VHS tape from 1990-91 that I had been searching for. I still had the original iMovie project on my hard drive, so I went back into the original project and added about 8 mintues of video imported from that old VHS tape. I also added some additional music tracks from iTunes and, at the end of the movie, as my last music track was playing out after the credits, I added 17 still photos of family from iPhoto. I then tried to drag the updated iMovie project to iDVD, but got an error message saying "operation unsupportable by iDVD" or words to that effect. On a hunch, I checked the file size of the updated iMovie project under the "get information" tab and it said the file was 10.2 GB!! I had not checked the file size of "version 1" of the project before I burned it, but when I checked the file size of the DVD to which it was burned, it said it was 2.7 GB, well within the 4.7 GB limit of a DVD-R. How in the heck can the iMovie file size balloon from 2.7 GB to 10.2 GB just by adding 8 additional minutes of video, an iTunes song or two and 17 still photos? Anyone have an idea of what happened?!?! Thanks in advance for any light you can shed on this rather perplexing problem. (Sorry for the lengthy post)

Lennart-
Thank you for tackling my question. You've educated me on the compression factor, which is very helpful, but that still begs the question of why I can't seem to burn my edited iMovie (48 minutes vs. the "old" 40 minutes). In other words, if iDVD was able to burn my 40 minute project (at 8.7 GB)and compress it to 2.7 GB on the DVD, shouldn't I also be able to burn a 48 minute project (10.2 GB uncompressed)? It would appear that if a 40 minute, 8.7 GB project compress to 2.7 GB on the DVD, then a 48 minute 10.2 GB iMovie file should compress to roughly 3.2 GB (if my math is correct). Isn't that within "acceptable limits?" Am I missing something here? Once again, thanks for your help (and patience).

Imovie file size too large

Created 22 min. film clip (from dvd camcorder tape.) in imovies and sent to iDVD, States file too large and need to delete some of it. Looked at project & file size, states it's 14,000 minutes long or 42GB. Have I duplicated something or what. Have been unable to get handle on this to complete project.
Have thought I might have to go back and delete bunch of clips to try resending...but want to understand whats going on. help appreciated.
iMac Mac OS X (10.4.8) 20" iMac 2.16Ghz intel core 2 duo, MacOS 10.4

Hello,
I'm pretty new to using a camcorder and importing the footage it into iMovie and iDVD. I was wondering this: does it seem normal that a four minute video in iMovie would = 836MB? I knew video took up a lot of memory but I didn't think it was quite that large. I took the video with my Sony HandyCam MiniDV (model HC-48). It was recorded in the 16:9 format, SP mode.
Second question, I agreed to record a wedding for a friend and she would like me to take quite a lot of footage. I'm thiking I could end up having 6 hours of video on MiniDV tapes by the time I'm done (before editing). I have a limited amount of HD space left on my iMac G5 (aprox. 36GB), would you recommend importing the video in smaller sections, editing it, burning it to DVD (as a themed movie) and then repeating that method? Or would it be a much better idea to get a 250GB external hard drive and set it up to be able to give me the extra 'head room' I need for the editing and finishing process? Do you have any good recommendations for an external (FireWire) hard drive brand that works well with Macs, but is also affordable (I'm not really hoping to drop a lot more money into this project)?
Sorry to throw so many questions at you in one post. This project has mushroomed WAY beyond what I first thought it was going to be so I'm trying to get ready for this in a hurry (wedding is two weeks away).
Thank you for any insights you can offer.

Importing VHS into Imovie - file size question

Hi,
The novice is back so bear with me please.
I'm using the Canopus ADVC-55 to import a 2 hour VHS into imovie so that I can convert it to DVD in iDVD. However, the file size is so massive that its eating up my hard drive. If I get an external hard drive, can I move the imovie project I'm working on to the external drive and will I still be able to use the imovie application even if the actual application is on the main hard drive? I just figure because of file limitations when working with digital files on my hard drive, it might be more practical to get a 200gig external but I want to make sure that I can still use the imovie application from it.
Thanks.

Leslie,
If you do get an external drive, make sure it's formatted Mac OS Extended or it may not work properly with iMovie.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93296
Matt

IMovie file size too large for one DVD

I've created my iMovie file and am ready to burn a DVD using iDVD to view on TV. Although my iMovie is only about 35 minutes, it is 7.73 GB. It is a simple movie. I only have a few titles, cross dissolves between clips and some audio.
How do I reduce my iMovie to fit on one DVD?
I don't have the option to "Export" under the "File" menu. And I've tried several of the "Share" formats which reduce the size, but none of them have given me TV viewing quality.
I am using iMovie HD 5 and the movie is widescreen.
Thanks!

iDVD encodes (compresses) the video before burning
the DVD, so there's no problem. Your iMovie project
will fit.
The iDVD capacity is best expressed in time instead
of size. iMovie 4/5 can include up to 2 hours of
video. A little less, counting iDVD features.
Karl
Hi Karl
I have an iMovie file that is 3hr and 10min long. I have a dual layer burner and dual layer DVD's to burn onto. Will this file fit onto the 8.5GB disc? or do I have to compress it somehow? If there is some software that will do this could you let me know?
The dual layer DVD's say they will fit 215 min of video on them, so why does it reject my file when starting iDVD?
Thanks for your help

Huge iMovie file size.

I made 3 movies in Quicktime from Keynote presentations, sizes 4, 24 and 48 MB, but when I import them into iMovie, the project file grows up to 7+ GB. Could somebody tell me why this happens, and is there a way to make it smaller or am I doing something wrong. That takes up almost all my free hard drive space, and taht is only 1 of three project I want to create.
David

Hi David
Karsten is 100% on this I just want to speculate around how I would do.
Easiest way:
is to get an external hard disk BUT THIS SHOULD be:
- a FireWire disk - no USB/USB2 - will not behave if one stores video material on it and tries to work with is here
- has to be Mac OS Extended or Mac OS Extended (journaled) - DOS/UNIX/Mac OS Exchange will not work
There should be at least 10Gb free space on internal hard disk (thumb-role
is 10% free space). at less than 5Gb the Mac OS gets problems due to that it
really is UNIX with a Mac interface. = lots of temp-files (invisible) and virtual
memory management.
Worse way:
Tidy up the internal hard disk so that it has about 10 - 25Gb free space by
storing old documents elsewhere - eg DVD disks, ext hard disks etc.
Yours Bengt W

Imovie file size

I bought my imac about three weeks ago and previously had never even seen one so please forgive my ignorance.
I am trying to convert a vhs tape to dvd. I have an ADS a/v converter which I used to convert the analog signal to digital. When creating the project in imovie I chose a mpeg 4 format but a 1 hour video was over 100 GB. Should I import the footage this way and try to compress it once it is captured? I would appreciate any help.
Thanks,
Keith
Imac Mac OS X (10.4.6)

iMovie version 6 uses non-destructive editing. So if you take a clip and trim off a large portion of it, it never really goes away, but instead is just hidden from you. This is true even if you empty the trash. Older versions, like iM4, would actually re-write the media files to throw out unused footage and you would regain your storage space. But with version 6, you get to keep the deleted footage like it or not.
Patrick

File size of imovie hd - HUGE; why?

I loaded in about 40 minutes of HD video captured on the cannon hv20 and then cut most of it out, so I now have a movie of about 4 minutes. I have emptied the recycle bin (both in imovie and the general computer), but the imovie file is still about 35 gb. That seems extremely high for 4-5 minutes of hd quality video. It almost seems as if it didn't completely delete the extra footage. I can't imagine the size is correct, otherwise I won't be able to store more than 1-2 movies on my computer at a time. Can anyone help? I'd prefer to not delete this file, even after exporting it to quicktime so that I have the original archived.
Thanks!!!!

Hi r
The editor iM08 is a non-destructive editor. => All material captured that has just a frame in use
is stored as is. That's the way it works.
How to cope ?
• Try to import more selectively
• In iMovie 1 to 6 one could export back to Camera - this concentrated to the final movie
then deleting the original project and import from the new tape - saved lot's of space but
also prohibitated "Restore".
• In iM08 one can export as QT.mov full quality - and may be use this (NOT sure if full quality
really is preserved)
• Or store the movie projects on an external FireWire - Mac OS Extended formatted hard disk. I do.
Yours Bengt W

I imported an hour of video into iMovie HD and cut it down to a 33 sec clip, and emptied the trash. When I save the project, the file size is 20Gb. How can I save just the 33 sec clip?

I imported an hour of video into iMovie HD and cut it down to a 33 sec clip, and emptied the trash. When I save the project, the file size is 20Gb. How can I save just the 33 sec clip?

Non-destructive editing is an important feature of iMovie HD 6.
iMovie preserves the entire copy of every clip you place into your movie in case you change your mind at a later stage.
So, if you have cut out one minute from a 45 minute clip, iMovie will have stored two complete copies of that clip. This is why is helps to set import as 3-5 minute clips rather than one huge chunk. As DV runs at 13GB per hour your project files can get very big.
One workaround is to complete the editing of a section of the movie, then export that to Quicktime: highlight the clip/s, choose Share-Quicktime, turn on Share selected clips only, and choose Full Quality from the pop-ip menu.
Once you have saved the stand-alone clip to your hard drive, you can re-import it into your project using the File/Import command, and delete the original long clip/s from the project.

Huge HD file sizes in iMovie when importing AVCHD files from HD Camcorder

Although several answers have been given on different ways to import HD files from a AVCHD camcorder, in this case a Sony one, the issue is what to do with the HUGE files it creates. I recorded 2 hours of HD content in about 30GB on the camcorder. I can burn those native HVCHD files on DVD's, took 6 of them, and play them on a Blue Ray player in HD. To edit, I tested a sample 50MB file that was about 3 minutes in length. It convered to quicktime file in the same 1920x1080 quality resulted in a file that was about 800MB, looked great, but how do I store or play a 20 minute version of it? iMovie is inadequate to do anything other than produce smaller size files for an iPod or lower quality, unless it is going to be a very short HD movie if doing true HD quality. One of the reasons I took the MAC plunge was the better multimedia capabilities. In this case, Apple (iMove and Final Cut) is behind.
I ended up shifting my HD editing back to a PC with $100 Sony Vegas software that can edit the AVCHD files and author in it. I can produce a DVD with about 25 minutes of edited HD in AVCDH file format and play it. I can also store the finished product in a much smaller space using AVCHD files. I have a 1 TB drive on my Mac that would be consumed if I worked in iMovie with converting all these AVCDH files and kept them in HD quality since it looks like it needs to expand them 12-16 times the AVCHD file size.
Yes, I know I could lower the quality to better work with them in iMovie, but that makes no sense to me. I want to record and edit in the HD format. Seems like these AVCHD cameras are becoming a standard since they are so efficient at storing HD content, iMovie needs to figure out how to edit and store them the same way. Very disappointed in how iMovie handles HD, to me it is NOT very good at handling HD, no good way to store or distribute it.
Am I missing soomething here? I have spent hours looking for a different answer, but have not found one yet? Maybe the next version of iMovie will be better. I like using it for SD DVD authoring, but for HD, did not work at all for me.
Jon

Interesting you say it is not meant for editing, but there are about a half dozen editor's for windows that will work on these exact files. I know with Sony Vegas that I have the same level of control with frame precision as I do with iMovie so I think there must be more to the story why Apple has not been able to support it like other software manufacturers who support windows. Don't get me wrong, i would love to do the work in iMovie and not have to learn something new. I don't have the storage space to use the HD apple format, that 2 hr of HD in AVCHD would turn into about 500GB then what do I put it on to play it. If the BlueRay standard calls for 25 or 50G disc's and we can get full two hour movies on them today, then they must be using a file format similar to AVCHD to fit on a disc, they cannot be using anything close to what Apple uses for HD files, it is just simple logic and math. So why doesn't Apple finure it out before everyone who starts working in HD comes to the same conclusion that the Apple QT file formats for HD is going to be an issue with space, you can create content, but cannot afford the disc space to store it or play it.

I am using a Mac Mini. I want to change the file size in iMovie to MPEG so I can burn the move to a disc. There is no "save As" that I can find . What do i do?

I am using a mac mini. I want to change the file size in iMovie to MPEG so I can burn the movie to a disc. There is no "Save As" that I can find. What do I do?

Stanley Fayer wrote:
... to MPEG so I can burn the movie to a disc. ...
to create standard-conform DVDs = playable on any DVDplayer, there's much more to do than just converting to mpeg(2)...-
you need a DVD-authoring app, as iDVD, Burn, Toast ........... drag any iMovie export into it, 'burn'.

Is it best to upload HD movies from a camcorder to iMovie or iPhoto. iMovie gives the option for very large file sizes - presumably it is best to use this file size because the HD movie is then at its best quality?

Is it best to upload hd movie to iPhoto or iMovie? iMovie seems to store the movie in much larger files - presumably this is preferable as a larger file is better quality?

Generally it is if you're comparing identical compressors & resolutions but there's something else happening here. If you're worried about quality degrading; check the original file details on the camera (or card) either with Get Info or by opening in QuickTime and showing info. You should find the iPhoto version (reveal in a Finder) is a straight copy. You can't really increase image quality of a movie (barring a few tricks) by increasing file size but Apple editing products create a more "scrub-able" intermediate file which is quite large.
Good luck and happy editing.

How to achieve smaller file size in iMovie after cutting or cropping

iMovie saves unused material, so that even if I remove (crop or cut) unwanted footage, I am left with the same large file size for the project.
The same seems to be true if I split a clip, and delete the unwanted portion and empty the trash.
I have saved selected portions to Quicktime and then set up another iMovie project using the smaller trimmed file. Is there a better way to do this - entirely within the iMovie environment?
Thanks,
K. Allen
G-5, dual 2.0 PowerPC Mac OS X (10.4.7) iLife6, 2.5 G of RAM, 40 G of free disk space

saved selected portions to Quicktime and then set up another iMovie project using the smaller trimmed file
You should export as .dv (not .mov) and import it back.
Or export to tape and import it back.
Or downgrade to iMovie 4 and make very good backups (emptying the trash while trimming the clips sometimes corrupts the project in iMovie 1-4!!).

With iMovie 10 how do I change the movie file size and type.

I have recently upgraded to iMovie 10. It takes some getting used to but I think I will like the new product. After creating my first few movies and trying to upload them to dropbox, it is taking a long time. Comparing the files to ones created in the previous version they are larger, and I need to know how we adjust the file size to the device the movies will be used for. I don't need high resolution files. It looks like you can change the size in file for share but still a large file and only compatible with Mac and PC others are greyed out. Files are much larger than the files generated in the old version.
Thanks any help will be appreciated.

This is one of the areas where the options have been reduced compared to iMovie 9. If you share to File, you should have Large (540p) and SD (480p) options in addition to the HD ones.
I'm not sure exactly which menu it is where you are finding greyed-out options.
What is the native format of the movie you are saving?
If you can't share directly into the format you want you should be able to post-process the shared file with a third-party app.
Geoff.

ISight and iMovies Editing Problems (File Size)

I recently used my MacBook Pro to record a live business related training. The trainer was using PowerPoint. After recording, I began to edit by separating some of the audio from the video (which I've done numerous times after recording with DV camera), then deleting some video and inserting some .jpg files of the PowerPoint slides to sync with the audio. But everytime I separated a piece of video from the audio, the file size grew tremendously even after I trashed the unwanted video. Note: my .jpgs were extremely small files. After a while, my file was more that 100 gigs. although it began at about 4 gigs. It got to the point where I couldn't even open the file. Does anyone know why this happens when recording with iSight? Also, I couldn't import even the original file into Final Cut Pro for editing. How do you get the file from iMovies to Final Cut?
MacBook Pro Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Hi Bill
You might be better off posting in the iMovie forum http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=141
Tony

Imovie file sizes

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