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Why does iMovie crop my videos?

I have a bunch of home movies, super 8, mini-DV, vhs etc that I have imported using iMovie. I am trying to export (Share) them into something watchable but iMovie keeps cropping every video into 16:9 - I am loosing a portion of each video, many times cutting peoples heads off. How do I stop this, I don't care if it is widescreen or not, I just want the full video not cropped.


[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Posted on Dec 22, 2019 4:22 PM

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Posted on Dec 23, 2019 8:30 AM

thats the problem, I am not cropping anything. I am taking the raw import footage, stitching them together and exporting. iMovie is cropping it, making everything 16:9 and cropping the top and bottom off of all footage. and I cannot figure out how to stop it. If this cannot be changed, this makes iMovie useless for old non-widescreen footage.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Dec 23, 2019 8:30 AM in response to Rich839

thats the problem, I am not cropping anything. I am taking the raw import footage, stitching them together and exporting. iMovie is cropping it, making everything 16:9 and cropping the top and bottom off of all footage. and I cannot figure out how to stop it. If this cannot be changed, this makes iMovie useless for old non-widescreen footage.

Dec 23, 2019 9:29 AM in response to Aaron

The "Fit" crop setting keeps your video in its original aspect ratio without cropping anything. It adds black bars to the top or sides to make the video "Fit" the 16:9 aspect ratio of iMovie.


The cropping problem may be happening because you have your iMovie preferences set to "Crop to Fill". In the menu bar, click on iMovie/Preferences and see what setting you have under Photo Placement. You want "Fit", not "Crop to Fill" and not "Ken Burns".



The settings change, if you make one, will apply only to projects created after the change. It will not apply to projects created before the change. In your situation your would need to do an Edit/Select All, Edit/Copy, of the media in your project and then Edit/Paste it into a newly created project. Your edits will carry over.


-- Rich


Why does iMovie crop my videos?

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